Hey, New Girl
by TaeRiNftw
Summary: There's a new girl in Class 2-C. She meets new friends and finds love. At first, she's interested in a particular red head but then has mixed feelings for the delinquent. Can she get her emotions straight? Will she confess to her true love? [It's HarimaxOCxSuga. This will be more for HarimaxOC. Wanted to throw some love for Suga out there.] Also, I ONLY own my OC.
1. Introduction

It was a typical morning at Yagami High and Class 2-C are chilling in the classroom, waiting for Mr. Tani to walk in and start the lessons.

All the students were in their own cliques, chatting the morning away until a frantic sound of running footsteps were heard outside the classroom and the door slide open impatiently.

"Guys! Everybody! Big News!" Shouted one of the students.

Everyone in Class 2-C turned their attention to whoever it was that interrupted their conversations. That student happened to be Fuyuki.

Fuyuki walked in the classroom, panting like crazy, trying to catch his breath from who knows where he showed up from.

All the students just stood there and stared at their classmate.

"Well? What is it?" Nishimoto asked, being the first to speak.

Fuyuki tried to speak while still catching his breath. "I. *pant* Got. *pant* Big. *pant* News."

"What's going on bud?" Suga asked, walking up to Fuyuki and hanging his arm around his shoulders.

Eri crossed her arms and looked at Fuyuki impatiently. "Your big news better be good. You rudely interrupted a story I was telling."

Everyone else didn't say a word and focused their attention towards Fuyuki. As soon as he caught his breath, he finally spoke again.

"I bumped into Mr. Tani in the faculty office and he was talking to a student I've never seen before. I think we're having a new classmate!" Fuyuki shouted.

All the students of Class 2-C had a shocked look on their faces.

"Are you serious!?" Yoshidayama shouted.

"Boy or Girl!?" Nara added.

"Girl! And she's a total babe!" Fuyuki answered, screaming towards the men.

All the men gasped and interrogated Fuyuki even more.

"Hold up! What about her chest!? Please tell me she got's some nice rack over there!" Imadori shouted, praying that this new student would be another chick to hit on.

Fuyuki looked at Imadori, pushed his glasses back up, giving a glare relfection and gave him a serious expression. "My dear friend, of course I took the opportunity to check her chest. I believe she is the same and/or bigger than Mikoto's."

As soon as Fuyuki finished his sentence, Mikoto made no hesitation to step forward and throw her fists out. "I HEARD THAT YOU PERVERT!" She was going to smack Fuyuki's head but was held back by Akira.

Meanwhile, the rest of the boys of Class 2-C were left with their imaginations and drooled from Fuyuki's words.

"D...D...bigger than D...F!" Imadori imagined as he used his hands and squeezed the air.

"CUT IT OUT WILL YOU!" Mikoto yelled as she freed from Akira's grasp an knocked Imadori's head to the ground.

Mikoto glared at all the other men and they all looked away, avoiding her wrath.

Tenma gave out a bright smile and clapped her hands together. "Well this is awesome! We're going to have another girl in our class! I'm so excited to meet her!"

Eri flipped her hair and smirked. "Same here. Maybe I can ask her to hangout with us."

"That's if she wants to hangout with us." Akira added.

"Are you sure this girl is going to be in our class Fuyuki?" Aso asked.

"I'm positive!" Fuyuki shouted. "I saw her talking to Mr. Tani but I didn't get a chance to hear their conversation."

Hanai stepped forward and raised his hand in the air. "If this new student really is coming to Class 2-C, then I, Haruki Hanai, your class representative will do my best to ensure she's welcomed!"

"What does she look like?" Ichijou asked shyly.

"Yeah! Tell us! I wanna know!" Mihara shouted.

Fuyuki stood in front of this classmates, fixed his glasses and took a deep breath before speaking.

"She is average height, average body. Her chest is just as I mentioned earlier..." The girls in 2-C shake their heads, obviously not caring about this certain information about the new student. "...She has beautiful long lavender hair and her skin is a fair, perfect complexion."

Fuyuki gave out another sigh but it wasn't a normal sigh. This sigh, was one of a romantic type. Everyone observed Fuyuki and noticed the hearts in his eyes.

"Woah! I think this guy's in love!" Yoshidayama said as he scratched his head.

Imadori however scoffed and shrugged his shoulder. "Who cares! Another girl means another pair of boobs to admire!"

Mikoto placed her hand to her face and shake her head. "You're such a pervert Imadori."

"Awh. Don't be jealous Miko. You're still my girl." Imadori said as he hung his arm around her shoulder.

Once again, Mikoto responded by knocking Imadori's head to the ground. "NOT. IN. A. MILLION. YEARS." She said through angry breaths.

Another bright smile was put on Tenma's face and her little pigtails began to twirl in excitement.

"Oh boy! She sounds like a really pretty girl! Now I'm even more excited to meet her. Right Harima?" Tenma said as she looked at the seat next to her.

There, Harima was slouched on the table, obviously sleeping through the entire conversation.

"Look at that Hige [ _Whiskers_ ]. Sleeping like always. Not caring about current events." Eri said, looking at the delinquent in disgust.

"You know, I believe him and Karasuma are the only two guys who aren't interested in the new girl." Mikoto said, pointing at Karasuma's direction.

Eri, Akira and Tenma followed Mikoto's finger and looked at Karasuma. He was sitting in his seat, staring out the window, oblivious to the situation as well.

"Well, at least it's a good thing he's not interested." Tenma said, sighing in relief.

"By the way Fuyuki, did you manage to catch her name?" Mai asked, walking up to the boy.

"Yeah. What's our new classmate's name?" Yuuki asked curiously.

The two girls stood in front of the hopeless romantic boy as Fuyuki snapped back to reality and froze in his spot.

A single drop of sweat rolled down his face and he cleared his throat. "That..." He started speaking. "Is one thing..." He continued. "...I didn't do..."

All the students were taken back from Fuyuki's mistake and all glared at him.

"You suck man!" Imadori shouted.

"How were you not able to get her name dude! She was right there!" Suga shouted.

"Please tell me you at least got a picture of her! You have your camera with you!" Yoshidayama added.

Fuyuki did a nervous gulp and looked at his forgotten camera. "I didn't do that either." He said quietly.

Nishimoto crossed his arms and shook his head in disappointment. "A very disappointing job Fuyuki."

"Hey! Don't blame me!" Fuyuki screamed. "I was distracted by her beauty!"

"She must be that good looking huh?" Aso asked, placing a finger to his chin.

"In my opinion, yes! She's more like equal to Ms. Osakabe to me!" Fuyuki shouted.

Once again, all the boys of 2-C drooled from their imaginations.

Sagano made a sound and shook her head in utmost disgust. "You guys are such perverts."

Eventually, Class 2-C started discussing among each other loudly. Some continued their conversations while other started talking about the mysterious new student. They eventually became rowdy until the classroom door opened.

"Alright. Settle down Class and take your seats." Mr. Tani said as he entered the classroom.

All the students shut their mouths and sat in their seats.

Mr. Tani stood in front of his desk and adjusted the glasses on his face. "I'm pretty sure Fuyuki must've spoken about a new student coming in today." He said, eyeing the photographer. "She just moved here from Okinawa and transferred to our school. She chose to be in Class 2-C so I hope you all treat her kindly and respectfully."

Before Mr. Tani continued speaking, he eyed the students and started walking towards the door. "I will leave the rest for our new student to speak. So, class, I would like you all to welcome our new student, Miss Sai Ishikawa!"

Mr. Tani opened the classroom door and there, the new student entered the room.


	2. The New Student

_~Earlier that day~_

"Yoosh! First day of school at Yagami High! I can't wait!" I shouted as I patted my hands to my cheeks and walked into the kitchen.

My parents were already sitting down, enjoying their breakfast. "Morning Mom! Dad!" I greeted them as I took my seat and started eating my breakfast.

"My! I see you're all worked up Sai." My mother said, putting a smile on her face.

I took a bite of my pancake and smiled back at my Mom. "Yeah! I already know that I'll like it here better than Okinawa. No more crowded streets. Plus, we now live in a peaceful environment."

My father was reading his newspaper and lowered it after I spoke with enthusiasm. "You are right Sai. I like it here already as well. No more traffic for me." He said with a smile.

My mother couldn't help but to chuckle at our excitement. "Okay Sai. Finish up your breakfast and don't forget to bring your boxed lunch."

"Right! I won't forget that!" I said, taking the last bite of my pancake.

My father folded the newspaper, placed it on the table and stood up. He gave out a yawn and started walking towards the door. "Well, I'm off to the restaurant. Need to make preparations before the opening."

"Bye Dad. Have fun with the business!" I yelled out to him.

As he was about to step out of the house, he paused and called out to me. "By the way Sai." I stopped what I was doing and looked at my father. "I made extra sushi pieces for you to share with your new classmates." He said and left the house.

I couldn't help but to smile. My father is a very kind and generous person. My mother gave out a dreamy sigh and looked at me. "Your father really is something." She said.

I nodded my head, still smiling. "Yeah. I'm grateful for Dad." With that, I brought my dirty dishes to the sink and packed my boxed lunches. I walked towards the door and put on my shoes. "I'm heading to school Mom!" I shouted out to her.

As soon as she replied, I opened the door and stepped outside. I started walking towards my new school and started thinking:

 _Boy am I excited to go to Yagami High. Moving here made me not miss a single thing from Okinawa._

 _Life there was super boring. My classmates at my old school were boring as well. All they wanted to do was study, study, study! Boring!_

 _I just hope Yagami High will be more fun than my old life._

* * *

"Here it is, Yagami High." I said with a smile.

I was standing outside the school gates and watched as the bell rings and students were entering the building to their classes.

It seemed no one noticed me yet which I guess is a good thing. _Wouldn't want to become the center of attention all of a sudden._

I'm also impressed with the architecture structure of the school. It was really pretty, a lot prettier than my old school.

"I like it here already." I said to myself with a grin.

With that, I entered the school property and made my way towards the lobby. There, I met the principal and he gave me a choice to choose between two Sophomore classes since they both had vacant spots. The classes were either Class 2-C or Class 2-D. Without any hesitation or giving time to speak, I just said "I'll go to Class 2-C."

My new principal nod his head and handed me my new class schedule. "Enjoy your new class. You can go to the faculty office. Your teacher will be Mr. Tani."

"Thank You." I said, bowing towards my principal and accepted the sheet of paper.

I walked down the hallways and found a room with the sign 'Faculty Office'. I opened the door and entered the room. There were many desks around the room and teachers were crowding around their respected desks. All eyes were turned towards me as I stood there nervously.

"Uh. Hi. I'm looking for Mr. Tani." I said, bowing in front of the teachers.

"That is me. You must be Sai Ishikawa." I looked up to see an average height man with brown hair and glasses standing in front of me. "The Principal already notified me about you coming to Class 2-C so I welcome you." He said bringing his hand out for a handshake.

"Pleased to meet you Mr. Tani." I said, accepting his handshake.

I couldn't help but to smile. Looking at Mr. Tani already made me know that he is a really nice man. _So far so good._

"Let's go to my desk. I have some books that you'll need for this semester." Mr. Tani said as he started walking to his desk.

I followed along and stood next to him. Mr. Tani was handing me a notebook as well as a few other books that's needed for reading. Pretty soon, a male student approached to the of us. "Good Morning Mr. Tani."

I looked at the student. He slightly looks similar to Mr. Tani, brownish hair, glasses but a little shorter than him. The only difference between the two is that this student carries a camera around his neck.

"Oh. Fuyuki. Do you need something?" Mr. Tani asked, looking at the boy.

I noticed that he was looking at me in a dazed way. His face suddenly turned red and looked back at Mr. Tani. "N-Nevermind!" He shouted and left the faculty office in a flash.

I stood there, dumbfounded at what just happened.

"I'm sorry about that Sai. That boy is Fuyuki. He will be one of your new classmates." Mr. Tani said with a smile.

"Oh. I see." I smiled back.

Mr. Tani was done providing me the necessary books just as the second bell rang. "Guess it's time to start class. If you follow me Sai, I'll introduce you to your fellow classmates."

With that, I followed Mr. Tani towards the second floor as we stood outside a room with the label, 'Class 2-C'. I wasn't even inside the classroom yet and I can hear a big commotion going on in there.

 _Wow, they sure are pretty loud._ I thought to myself.

I looked at Mr. Tani and he let out a sigh. "Sorry about this Sai. My students do tend to be loud most of the time but don't worry, you'll get use to them after a while." He said with a nervous smile.

"Oh that's no problem Mr. Tani. I actually like it here already." I said with a smile.

"That's good. Would you mind waiting out here for a bit? I'll open the door again to let you in once I introduce you." He said.

I nodded my head, letting him know that I didn't mind. Mr. Tani opened the classroom door and entered. The loud noises that were heard a moment ago died down immediately. I could faintly hear him announcing a new student coming in and he finally said my name. "I would like to welcome you all, Miss Sai Ishikawa!"

The door opened as Mr. Tani nodded his head, signalling me to come in. I took a nervous gulp and thought, _Here goes nothing._

* * *

I entered the classroom and stood right by the podium. Mr. Tani stood next to me and started speaking. "Miss Sai Ishikawa, why don't you spend the next couple minutes talking about yourself so we can get to know you a little more."

"Sure thing Mr. Tani." I said, smiling towards my teacher. I looked around the classroom as numerous eyes were fixed on me. I took a deep breath and started my introduction. "Hi there everyone! My name is Sai Ishikawa. I moved here from Okinawa due to family businesses. My family and I have a sushi restaurant business so we basically moved here to open one." I gave out a bright smile and then a nervous laugh. "To be honest, I really like it here in Yagami High much better than my old school. With that, it's nice to meet you all and I hope the best for us!" I bowed in front of my classmates as they continued to stare at me.

Mr. Tani clapped his hand and smiled. "Thank you Sai. Let's get you to your seat so we can start the day. We have an empty seat right behind Kenji Harima." He spoke and then pointed towards the back right hand corner of the room. "Harima, will you please raise your hand so that Sai can know where she's sitting?"

At first, there was no response but then a hand rose and I walked towards it. As soon as I made my way towards my seat, I noticed that this Harima person did had his hand raised but with the help of another girl. There was a girl sitting next to him, child looking with cute tiny pigtails on the side. She was the one who secretly rose Harima's hand while Harima himself was sleeping the entire time.

I was dumbfounded to see this. _How can someone sleep throughout the entire morning? Was he already asleep from that loud commotion I heard earlier? How fascinating..._

Mr. Tani cleared his throat as he approached his desk. "Alright class. Take out your pencils and erasers. We're going to have our-" Before Mr. Tani could finish talking, he looked at his empty desk and made a realization. "Oops! I forgot the papers at my office." He let out a deep sigh and looked at the class. "Class if you'll excuse me. I'll be back in a few minutes."

With that, Mr. Tani rushed out of the classroom and the room was silent for a couple seconds. I reached for my bag and started taking out my utensils, unaware of the fact that majority of the boys in the classroom were completely staring at me. It wasn't until I looked away from my bag that I noticed the stares. I looked at each of them nervously.

"U-Uh...Hi?" I said in confusion. _Why are they all looking at me like that? They all seemed really dazed._

A moment of silence went by and all those boys that were staring at me stood up from their seats and started shouting, "WILL YOU MARRY ME!?" I jumped up from my seat, startled at their sudden proposal and looked around nervously.

"W-What!?" I shouted in confusion once again. I probably had a shocked expression. Their enthusiasm is something I did not expect one bit.

Most of the boys started walking towards my table with dazed expressions and what seems like hearts in their eyes.

I could tell I was starting to feel overwhelmed by this attention. _What is going on?_

"Alright boys! Break it up! She will not marry any of you!" Said a girl with shoulder length blue hair and chest almost as big as mine.

"Yeah! Show some respect you perverts!" Screamed the childlike girl with the tiny pigtails.

The two girls pushed all the guys away as they made their way back to their seats. They never once looked away from me. It just made me feel even more nervous.

"W-Woah...I have some intense classmates..." I whispered.

"Ignore all those guys. They're just perverts." The blue haired girl said, flashing me a smile.

"Yeah! If they bother you again, Mikoto and I will protect you!" The childlike girl said, giving me a thumbs-up.

I looked back at the blue haired girl, _She's Mikoto._

Mikoto let out a cheesy smile and placed her arm behind her head. "Well, now that she mentions my name, I'm Mikoto Suou."

"I'm Tenma Tsukamoto!" Said the childlike girl.

Tenma then walked towards two more girls that were standing behind Mikoto. One girls was fairly tall with beautiful blonde hair wrapped in two separate pigtails while the other had short dark reddish hair and average height. "These two are also our best friends." Tenma said, smiling.

"I'm Eri Sawachika." Said the blonde one.

"Akira Takano." The red hair girl said coolly.

"Pleased to meet you all." I said, smiling towards my new friends.

 _They all seemed very nice and cool. This is great!_

The classroom door opened once again and Mr. Tani came back with a stack of papers. "Sorry about that Class. I had forgotten to bring the exam with me. I hope you all studied for the English Language Test."

Mr. Tani started walking around the classroom, handing out a sheet of paper to each student. Once he reached towards Harima's desk, he shook his head. "Haima, were you sleeping the entire time?"

Harima stirred and sat up slowly. "nhm...what?" He said softly.

Mr. Tani sighed and handed him a sheet of paper. "Never mind that. Here's your test and don't flip the paper until I say so." after that, Mr. Tani walked up to me. "Sai, I know this is your first day here. You have an option to opt out of today's exam."

"It's okay Mr. Tani. I don't mind taking the exam. I'm curious to test out my English Language Arts skills." I said, giving him a smile.

"Alright. Here you go." Mr. Tani said as he placed the sheet of paper on my desk.

As soon as he walked away, I looked forward and realized that Harima was looking at me.

"Who the hell are you?" He said in a mean, cold tone.

"Uh..H-Hello." I said nervously. My eyes widen at his sudden tone of voice.

I observed Harima and noticed that he has a tan skin tone, slick long black hair with a single strand sticking out and black shades covering his eyes. He sort of has a bad boy attitude.

Things were feeling really awkward between Harima and I. That's because he slept through my entire introduction so I'm pretty sure seeing me behind him out of nowhere would throw his off guard.

Tenma was the one to break the ice and spoke to Harima. "Oh Harima you sleepy head. That's Sai Ishikawa. She's the new girl in our class and my new friend." She told him with her bright smile.

Harima's mean expression changed when he looked at Tenma and let out a slightly softer look.

"Oh. If that's the case. I'm Harima Kenji. Pleased to meet you." He rapidly shook my hand and immediately turned back around.

"O-Okay?" I said in confusion. _This school and this class just makes things seem more interesting._ I thought with a smile.

As soon as Mr. Tani handed out the last sheet of paper, he stepped forward and faced the classroom. "Okay Class. You may now start the exam."

I flipped over my sheet of paper and read through the questions. This exam is just a translation exam. _Easy as pie!_ My hellish crammy old school forced us to learn how to translate in English and I guess that finally paid off.

So, I spent the next couple of minutes writing my answer away until Harima suddenly stood up from his seat and screamed. "Ahh!"

Every one of us were startled by his sudden scream and looked at him in confusion.

"H-Harima? Is everything okay?" A concerned Mr. Tani asked.

"Holy crap. This test is so easy that I forgot to write my name." Harima said as he gave out some exaggerated laughs.

All the other students started laughing along. Heck, even I was laughing. It was pretty funny of Harima to do that even though I don't know why he had to exaggerate it.

"Alright Class. Harima learned his mistake. Let's get back to finished the exam." Mr. Tani said as we all continued focusing on out test.

A couple more minutes passed by and I had just finished writing my final answer. I gave out a victory sigh and smiled happily. _Too easy!_

"Oops" I heard Harima said quietly as I looked at his back and noticed his eraser hitting the ground from his desk. The eraser bounced around and landed next to my foot.

I bent over to picked up the eraser. Just as I was going to hand it back to Harima, I saw some writings on it. ' _You forgot to write your name.'_ was written on the eraser.

"Eh?" I muttered as I looked at my paper. Harima was right! I did forget to write my name! How did he know? He's sitting right in front of me. That's very weird.

I wrote on the other side of the eraser, _'Thank you so much!'_ and handed the item back to him. Harima didn't look quite happy. As a matter of fact, he looked even more troubled. Almost as if this message wasn't meant for me.

"Alright class the exam is over. Please hand in your paper." Mr. Tani said as I passed my paper to Harima. I could see him frantically scribbling on his exam as I just stared at him.

 _Harima sure is an interesting guy._ I thought to myself.

* * *

Lunch time came around and the girls and I formed a circle with our desks. I became a part of the gang with these ladies suddenly.

"Oh boy! Lunch time! I wonder what Yakumo made today!" Tenma said excitedly as she opened her lunch box.

"Eh? Whose Yakumo?" I asked curiously.

"She's Tenma's younger sister. She's in Class 1-D." Mikoto said, answering my question.

"Oh. How nice." I said with a smile.

Eri looked at my lunch box, she probably noticed that I brought a huge lunch. "What did you bring Sai?"

"Oh. Well, since my family is part of the sushi business, my Dad made a couple extra sushi pieces to share." I said as I opened my lunch box and showed my new friends my food. There were at least 40 pieces in the box.

Tenma's eyes lit up as she observed the different type of fishes in my box. "Woah! This looks awesome!"

"You bet! They look delicious!" Mikoto added.

Eri's jaw dropped. "You're father made those?"

I nodded my head and smiled. "Yup. Feel free to take some. There's more than enough!"

With that, the girls dig in and each took a bite. Judging from the looks on their faces, they all seemed satisfied.

"This is good." Akira said.

"Delicious!" Tenma said.

"Ditto!" Mikoto added.

"My! This is the finest sushi I've ever had!" Eri complimented.

I couldn't help but to feel shy from the compliments. "Thanks guys.."

With that, I spent majority of lunch time getting to know more students in my new class. I was introduced to mainly the girls, Karn Ichijou, Mai Otsuka, Tsumugi Yuuki, Megum Sagano and Kozue Mihara. It was cool to meet them all.

"You know, I got to meet all the girls in the class. What about the guys? I only got to know Harima's and Fuyuki's name." I said as I shrugged my shoulders.

I didn't notice that all the guys were eavesdropping my conversation and they all seemed rowdy once I mentioned Fuyuki's name.

"Fuyuki you sneak! How does she know your name but you didn't know hers before!?" Shouted one voice.

"He probably introduced himself to her without us noticing!" shouted another voice.

"You didn't grab her boobs did you!?" Yelled a third voice.

The boys seemed to crowd around Fuyuki with angry glares as Fuyuki stood in the middle all nervous.

"N-No! I-I didn't do anything! H-Honestly!" Fuyuki yelled, using his camera to shield himself.

I got up from my seat and looked at the group of men. "What's going on over there?" I asked curiously. I stepped away from my chair and was about to walk over to the group until Mikoto grabbed my arm and stopped me.

"Trust me Sai. You do NOT want to go over there." Mikoto said.

I looked at her in confusion. "Why not? They seem nice."

Eri chuckled at my comment. "Oh Hon." She started speaking as she placed her hand on my shoulder. "Those boys over there are such perverts. All they can think about are girls. They were already smitten by you before you even showed up."

My eyes widen from Eri's sentences. _What did I do to cause all of this attention? Are the boys always like this?_

"I-I see." I stammered. "Well, I still want to get to know them. At least know their names so I can get familiar with everyone." I said, hoping to convince the girls to let me go.

The girls looked among each other and they all sighed.

"Guess we can't stop you there." Mikoto spoke. "I'll go with you just in case those boys tries to make things awkward for you."

"Thanks Mikoto." I smiled at my friend as she swung her arm around my shoulder and walked me towards the group of boys.

As soon as we approached them, they all stopped their rowdiness and immediately stood there, faces flushed.

Mikoto took a deep breath and stood in front of me. "Alright, listen here boys. Sai wants to know your names. So introduce yourselves and I want NO FUNNY BUSINESS!" She emphasized the last few words.

Fuyuki was the first one to step up. "Well, you already saw me earlier today, I'm Takeichi Fuyuki." He said nervously, his face was really flushed.

Next was a guy with short blue hair who seemed really shy. "Hi there. I-I'm Kentarou Nara." He said nervously.

Standing next to Nara was a big guy with very little hair, nearly showing his baldness and he had a look of a buddha. "Ganji Nishimoto." He said directly. I smiled and nodded my head towards him.

The next guy had long orange hair sticking on the top of his head. He's pretty short, in which maybe using his hair might've helped him seem taller. He pointed at himself with his thumb and tried to give me a flashy smile. "Jiro Yoshidayama's the name babe. Say, how about going out with me huh?"

The moment Yoshidayama finished his sentence, Mikoto knocked his head to the ground. "Didn't I just say NO FUNNY BUSINESS!?" She yelled as she sat on the ground, holding onto his head. I just stood there and blinked a couple times. _These boys sure are weird and funny._

"Hey there, I'm Ryuuhei Suga and my buddy here is Hiroyoshi Aso" Suga, short red hair, fairly tall and had an earring on his left ear. He had his arm around his friend, Aso, who has black hair with point bangs. "Hi." Aso managed to say after trying to free himself from Suga's grasp.

I couldn't help but to laugh at the two. I took another glance at Suga and noticed that he was sort of charming. But I am a woman who don't normally go after guys just for their looks. They gotta have a good of personality as well.

Soon, someone grabbed my hand and started caressing it. I looked to see who it was and there was a guy with messy blonde hair and green eyes. "Last but not least, Me, Kyosuke Imadori. I say, you are quite the lady. What cup size are you? D-Cup just like Miko's?"

"Huh?" I looked at Imadori with questionable eyes.

"Come on, tell me your cup size." Imadori asked again.

I was quite surprised to hear this question coming from Imadori. We literally just met and he has the courage to ask me something like that. _These girls weren't kidding when they said that they were perverts...how funny._

"Imadori! I'm gonna kill you!" Mikoto yelled as she kept bonking Imadori's head.

I couldn't help but to stand there and laugh. I honestly do like it here. My classmates are more funner than those at my old school.

"What's all the commotion going on here?" A guy with a black mushroom cut hair style walked towards us. His glasses glared as he gently pushed them back and stared at Mikoto and Imadori. "As your class representative, I, Haruki Hanai, will not tolerate this."

 _Oh? We have a Class rep here? That's good to know._ I thought to myself with a smile.

Imadori stood up and wiped the dust off his clothes. "Jeez Hanai. We were only kidding around."

Hanai shake his head and turned his attention towards me. "Hello there Miss Ishikawa. I am Haruki Hanai, your class representative. I do hope to help you with whatever needs you have." He said, holding his hand out for a handshake.

"Thank you Hanai." I said, shaking his hand in respect.

"Alright Sai. That's everyone. Let's get back to our seat." Mikoto said.

"Well, It was really nice meeting you all! I look forward to the semester together!" I said as I bowed in front of the guys.

They all had their same dazed expression but this time, I noticed them drooling around in their dreamy like state. With that, Mikoto dragged me back towards the rest of the girls.

"So, how was it?" Tenma asked.

"It was fine. They're all pretty funny though." I said, giggling towards myself.

"You know, I noticed her eyeing towards Suga." Mikoto whispered quietly so that only the five of us can hear.

Eri choked from her drink and looked at Mikoto, eyes wide. "What!? No way!" She then looked at me.

I felt my face getting flushed from being the center of attention once again.

"N-No! I wasn't eyeing him!" I said, trying to defend myself.

"Sai must think he's charming." Akira said.

I rapidly nodded. It was almost as if Akira could read my mind.

Tenma had sparks in her eyes as she clapped her hands. "Ooh! You should talk to him more Sai!"

I waved my hands around nervously. "N-No way! I mean, sure he's charming and all but I wouldn't want to do anything else until I get to know everyone more." I lowered my head in defeat.

Mikoto sat there and laughed. "Okay Sai. We won't tease you anymore. But, if you ever change your mind, I can hook you guys up."

I chuckled nervously. "I-I don't think I need that..." I turned around and sighed. Then, I noticed that there was a guy sitting behind Tenma, staring out the window. He also has a mushroom hair cut like Hanai's but his was neater. It was strange that I never noticed him before.

"Hey ladies." I began talking, "Whose that guy?" I asked.

Eri looked at the direction I was pointing at. "Oh him? He's Oiji Karasuma."

"Tenma's crush." Akira blurted out.

I looked at Tenma and she was putting her finger to her mouth, shushing the girls. "Akira! D-Don't say that so loud!" She said quietly.

"Tenma had the hots for him since freshman year." Mikoto said, teasing Tenma.

"M-Mikoto!" Tenma's face was all flushed from embarrassment.

"Awh. That's really cute. Don't worry Tenma, your secret is safe with me." I said, winking at the girl as she pouted, fearing that the boy would hear our conversation.

* * *

The rest of the school day went by in a breeze. School was over and the girls offered to walk me home.

We all chatted and walked together until we reached to my apartment. I waved at the girls and headed inside to be greeted by my Mother.

"Welcome home Sai." My mother said with a smile, she was in the middle of prepping dinner.

"Hey Mom." I said as I walked next to her and snuck a piece of cooked chicken in my mouth.

"How was your first day?" She asked.

"Better than Okinawa." I said, flashing her a smile.

"That's good. Your father said the same thing." She said.

"Awesome!" I shouted in excitement. "It would be better if we could live in an actual house. Probably one that is closer to the restaurant."

"I agree. Tell you what, I'll let you handle that job. You can find a house for us as long as it's within a good price range." My mother said.

My eyes lit up. "Really? Sounds good to me!"

I gave a thumbs up towards my Mom and went straight to my room. I took out my books and started reading the chapters.

 _My school life is going to be fun now that I'm at Yagami High!_


	3. Art Class

I've been attending Yagami High for a few days now and I couldn't have love it more! Throughout these past few days, I've learned a bit more about my classmates as well as constantly getting hit on by Imadori. According to Mikoto, Imadori was hitting on me because of my chest. I just happened to find it funny.

My class and I headed towards the art room on the upper level.

"Yay! We have Art today!" Tenma said with joy.

"I wonder what we'll be doing today." Eri said, flipping her hair behind her.

I took out my schedule and looked at the paper. I noticed that we are to have Art class every Friday. "Hm? I didn't realize we have this elective once a week."

"Yeah. It's a good thing for me. I suck at art." Mikoto said, unhappy that today was art day.

"Well, who is our teacher?" I asked.

"Miss Yoko Sasakura." Akira answered.

"She's a really nice teacher. Plus she's really pretty!" Tenma exclaimed.

"Huh? Isn't that the same description you gave on Miss Osakabe?" I asked my friend.

Tenma nodded her head and laughed. "Yeah. They're both pretty."

"Those perverted boys always drool over them." Eri said.

"Especially Miss Osakabe." Mikoto added.

"I guess you are right. Miss Osakabe is extremely pretty." I said, placing a finger to my chin.

Once we arrived, we entered the room and were greeted by a tall, slender woman with lone light brown hair and bangs that ends just above her eyes. As soon as she saw me, she walked up to me.

"Why hello there!" The woman said, bringing a smile on her face. "You must be Sai Ishikawa. Pleased to meet you. I'm your art teacher for the semester, Miss Sasakura."

I smiled back at her. "It's nice to meet you Miss Sasakura." _My God, she's just as pretty as Ms. Osakabe. What's with these teachers in this school!?_

The entire class crowded around the room and stood there, awaiting for instructions from the teacher.

Miss Sasakura walked towards the center of the room and looked at each of us. "Okay Class, today we'll be learning on how to sketch each other's portraits. Of course, you will all need a partner for this assignment."

Suddenly, I can feel numerous eyes darting towards me. I don't know if I suddenly could read minds, but I could tell, majority of the boys are probably thinking, _"Make Sai my partner! Make Sai my partner!"_

Miss Sasakura cleared her throat and continued speaking. "To prevent any drama from happening, I'll be the one assigning you a partner."

With that, Miss Sasakura started assigning students their partners as they all grabbed a paper and pencil and started drawing.

"Sai." My art teacher spoke as I looked up at her. "You'll be partnering up with Harima."

I heard a lot of gasps going around the classroom. After those gasps, the boys of Class 2-C screamed, "WHAAAT!? HARIMA!?"

Harima and I made eye contact and I quickly looked away and stared at my classmates. They all seemed very shocked at the fact that I'm partnered with Harima. I don't get it. What's so bad about Harima?

Just then, the guys huddled up near me and I could hear their whispers.

"Oh man, Harima's lucky. He doesn't even know that he's partnered with the hottest girl in class." Fuyuki whispered.

"If we tried to switch with him, Harima might pound us." Nara said.

"I can't believe he's with the cutest girl in our class." Suga said with a sigh.

I could tell my face flushed a bit when I overheard what Suga said.

Yoshidayama lifted his head to look at me then immediately went back down. "Tch. There goes my luck. Harima doesn't even like her anyways!"

"It's okay boys. Let's just see how things will go between the two of them. Who knows, maybe she'll be unhappy and request to switch and we'll be lucky." Nishimoto whispered, trying to reassure the men.

I couldn't help but to stare at the group of boys curiously. _Is Harima some sort of bully or something?_

"Yo." I heard Harima say from behind.

I turned around and greeted him with a smile. "Hi Harima."

"I guess we're partners." He said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Yeah. Let's do our best for this portrait." I said with enthusiasm.

"Uh...right.." He said quietly, obviously sounding like he didn't care about this class.

With that, the two of us walked towards our seats in a corner. As soon as I sat down, I had a clear view of seeing Tenma with her partner, Karasuma.

 _How cute._ I thought. I wonder how she's feeling right now. Must be freaking out in that mind of hers.

"Uh..Hey.." Harima started speaking. "How about we switch seats?" He said, sounding like a question but demanding at the same time.

"Huh? Why?" I asked.

He looked as if he was trying to make up an excuse to do so. "Uh...well...you know the lighting would look better on you if we switched."

"O-Oh..." I'm quite surprised to see this coming from Harima but I didn't question it. I did as he requested and switched seats with him. "Okay. Let's get started then." I smiled towards him.

* * *

I'm not much of an artist but I'm able to do well on the basic parts of a human portrait. I tried my best and getting down with Harima's had structure and his hair. As soon as I started drawing his face, I had a trouble time because of his sunglasses. Come to think of it, why does he always have it on? Does he ever take them off? Plus we're indoors..so what's the point of it?

"Hey. Harima." I called out to him, mid-drawing.

I didn't get a response so I looked up from my sketch pad. He seemed to be spacing out and not giving me any attention. _Is he even drawing? He's just staring at me._

"Harima?" I repeated.

Again, he was still spaced out. I don't know why, but the way he was staring at me was making me really nervous. In fact, I could feel my face starting to flush. _I never had a guy stare at me like that, it's seriously making me nervous!_

I started clearing my throat, hopefully catching his attention this time. "H-Harima" I started waving my hand in his face and he finally snapped out of it.

"Huh?" He finally spoke. "Did you say something?"

"Well, I have a favor to ask of you." I said, still feeling nervous.

"And what's what?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I'm having trouble drawing your facial features because your glasses are in the way. Do you mind taking them off for a couple minutes so I can continue drawing?" I asked him nicely.

All of a sudden, the entire classroom went dead silent followed with a few gasps and a few 'Ooooooooh'-ing.

I looked around the room, confused of what's going on with the situation. _Did I say something wrong?_

Yoshidamyama stood up from his seat, hands to his face. "Oh man! She's gonna get it now!"

"Huh?" I looked at him in confusion.

"Well, it was nice knowing her while her boobs lasted." Imadori said, giving out a sigh and shrugging his shoulders.

I looked back at Harima and he was quiet. He was just sitting there, deep in thought.

 _Now I feel bad. I really must've said something wrong._

"I-I'm sorry Harima. I-I didn't mean to offend you. You don't have to take them off if it's going to make you uncomfortable." I said, trying to fix this situation.

I felt my heart pounding fast. _Is he going to yell at me?_

"It's okay. Will you still able to draw if I leave them on? I'm uncomfortable taking them off." Harima said calmly.

I stared at him blankly. He's actually being nice about this. "No problem Harima. I'll just try my best." I finally said with a smile.

"He didn't pound her!?" Yoshidayama screamed in shock.

Suga stood from his chair and yelled at Yoshidayama. "Why are you questioning!? Do you want her to get beat up or something!?"

"I don't! I'm just surprised that Harima didn't react from her request!" Yoshidayama yelled back.

My face heated up. _Why do I always cause something and become the center of attention? All I did was ask about his sunglasses..._

"Hey." Harima called out to me, causing me to look back at him. "Don't feel bad. Just ignore them. They're punks anyways."

I couldn't help but to sit there and blush. _Why is Harima being nice to me?_

"O-Okay. Still, I really do apologize if have offended you or anything." I started saying. "Plus, I see that you're a nice guy."

"Hm?" Harima looked at me, unsure if what he heard was true. "You really think that?"

"Yeah." I answered, looking at him curiously.

"Oh. Well, thanks for the compliment." He said.

"No problem." I said as I smiled towards him.

With that, we were both silent and focused on finishing our portraits since class was almost over.

 _Come to think of it, I'm really curious to see how Harima looks without his sunglasses. He is sort of good looking like Suga. I wonder if he's got nice eyes..._

I immediately stopped what I was doing and froze in my spot. _WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING JUST NOW!?_

I could feel my face flushing in an instant. _Why did I think of such thing? What is wrong with me..._

"Yo. You still there?" Harima said as he was now the one waving his hand in my face.

I shook my head and looked at him. "S-Sorry Harima. I spaced out." I gave him a nervous smile.

"Oh. Well, I said that I'm done." He said.

"Ah!? R-Really!?" I shouted. I looked down at my sketch pad and I still have his face all blank. "I-I'm not done yet..."

Ms. Sasakura stood in the middle of the classroom and made an announcement. "Alright Class. Our session will end in five minutes. Time to wrap up your sketches!"

 _Crap!_

I did my best to finish off my portrait of Harima. I added a few lines and oval shapes to pose as his sunglasses and shaded them in a hurry. "There! All done!" I smiled proudly.

"Cool. I'll see you later. Class is over." Harima said as he got up from his seat and handed in his portrait.

"Later Harima." I waved at him as I got up from my seat and walked over to the girls.

They were crowding around Tenma, admiring her sketch. I took a look at her sketch pad and her drawing of Karasuma was really nice. She put in every single detail of him which was really impressive.

"Your drawing looks awesome Tenma." Eri said.

"Yeah. It's amazing." Mikoto said with a smile.

"Nicely done." Akira added.

"Wow, I didn't know you were such an artist Tenma." I said.

"Huh? Why do you all looked surprised?" Tenma questioned, pouting at us.

"Well, for starters..." Eri spoke. "You had your eyes closed when you drew that picture."

I looked at Eri, eyes wide. "What!? Her eyes were closed!?"

"What? You didn't see her?" Mikoto asked.

"Well, no. I had my back towards her the entire period." I said, sad that I didn't see this awesome moment happen.

We all walked towards Ms. Sasakura and handed in our papers. Since Art was our last class, our school day was over and the start of our weekend. The girls and I started walking out of school property and chat.

"Hey ladies." Tenma spoke up quietly.

"Hm? Got something to say Tenma?" I asked the girl.

Akira, Eri, Mikoto and I turned our heads to look at Tenma. She seemed like she was putting up the courage to say something.

"Well, I was wondering if you guys want to come over to my house tomorrow night for a sleepover. Since it's the weekend." She asked shyly.

"Sleepover?" I asked.

"Yeah." Tenma nodded her head.

"Sounds like a perfect plan for me." Mikoto said with a smile.

"I'm up for it." Eri said, smiling towards Tenma.

"Well, I guess you can count me in as well!" I said, giving Tenma a thumbs up.

"Ditto." Akira chimed in.

Tenma's face lit up as she clapped her hands and her tiny pigtails twirled. "Yay! Be at my place at 6PM tomorrow!"

"Alright! Sleepover at Tenma's!" I shouted.

"I'll see you all there!" Tenma shouted.

We all parted ways and headed home.

 _Sleepover at Tenma's doesn't sound so bad. I can use this time to get to know the girls more._


	4. Ladies Night

Although I'm still new around the neighborhood, I took my time travelling around in hope of finding my way towards Tenma's house. I'm pretty psyched about this sleepover because it gives me lots of time to get to know the ladies.

After walking around aimlessly for a while, I managed to find the right house and approached the door. I checked the time and it was 5:50PM. "A bit early. Might as well let her know I'm here."

With that, I rang the doorbell and Tenma was the one to greet me.

"Sai! You're here early!" She shouted with a bright smile.

I smiled back towards her. "Yeah. I was trying to navigate my way here. You know, trying to understand the streets more."

Tenma opened her door wider to invite me inside. "Come in! You get to meet Yakumo". From the tone of her voice, she sounded extremely excited that this girls night is happening.

"Excuse me." I said politely as I entered the house.

Tenma's house was really nice. It was a very modern house that is suitable for two people to live in. They didn't have fancy decorations so the interior was nice and simple. "I like your place Tenma." I said, gazing around the room.

"Thanks Sai." I heard Tenma said as she closed the door. "Yakumo is in the kitchen. You can go in and greet her."

With a nod on my head, I trailed off down the hall and walked into the kitchen. There, I see a tall, slim young girl standing in front of the stove, cooking a meal.

"Yakumo, Sai is here." Tenma said as she stood next to me and smiled.

Yakumo turned around and gave me a warm smile. "Hello there Sai. _Nee-san_ has been talking about your ever since your first day. It's an honor to finally meet you." She then gave me a very polite bow as I did so in return.

I took a look at Yakumo and realized that she was extremely beautiful. She had a true sense of natural beauty which really amazed me. _I can't believe she's the younger sister. Yakumo looks like she is older than Tenma._

"Please, make yourself comfortable Sai. I also made tea for you while you await for the others to arrive." Yakumo said as she pointed towards the tray of tea on the table.

"Oh. Thank you Yakumo." I said with a smile.

Yakumo seemed like a nice, quiet shy girl. _Tenma sure is lucky to have her as a sister._

"Sai!" Tenma called out to me. I didn't notice that she left he kitchen and was sitting in the living room. I followed her voice and saw that Tenma was sitting in front of the television. "Want to watch _'Three for the Kill'_ with me?"

"Eh? Is that a T.V. show?" I asked her curiously.

Tenma gasped in shock. "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS!?" She yelled.

With that, Temna got up and immediately dragged me towards the television. "It's the BEST show ever!" She said with such enthusiasm.

I couldn't help but to laugh. She sure is a funny girl. I sat where Tenma dragged me to and looked at the television. From observing the show, I can see that it's an old classic about three men who travels around from the Edo period. This show showed the men fighting evil throughout their travel and working together to fight. It seemed interesting. _I just don't understand why this is Tenma's favorite show._

Within a couple minutes of watching the show, the doorbell rang. I could hear Yakumo coming out from the kitchen and quietly said, "I'll get it."

Tenma shot up from her seat and clapped in excitement, "Oh boy! The rest of the gang are here!"

After Tenma said that, Akira, Mikoto and Eri walked into the living room.

"Hey guys!" Mikoto greeted us with her wide smile.

"Sup." Akira said coolly.

"Wow Sai. You're here early." Eri said.

I greeted my friends and smiled. "I left my place early just to get to know the neighborhood."

"I see." Eri said as she placed her bag on the ground. "Now that we're all here, let's start this party."

"Heck yeah!" Mikoto shouted in excitement. "What are we going to do first?"

Tenma looked at each of us and started to smile. "Let's all take a nice hot bath!"

We all turned our heads and looked at our friend. "Hot bath?" Akira questioned.

"I guess it doesn't sound like a bad idea." I said.

"I'm down for one right now." Mikoto said.

"Alright! Let's go then!" Tenma shouted as she guided us towards the washroom.

* * *

As we entered the washroom, there was a gigantic tub that could fit the five of us! We all undressed ourselves, wrapped a towel around our bodies and jumped into the hot tub.

The water was nice and relaxing. It definitely made my tense body relax into a jelly like state and I enjoyed the hot feeling on my body. Akira was relaxing with me on the tub while the others were busy splashing each other with the water.

"This is fun!" Tenma shouted as she splashed water towards Eri.

"It really is." Eri said as she giggled and splashed back.

Mikoto didn't say anything and just splashed a sufficient amount of water towards the girls.

We spent almost an hour in the hot tub and we finally dried off and changed to our night gowns. We settled down at Tenma's room and sat there, relaxed and refreshed.

"That felt really nice. It's been a while since I laughed like that." Eri said, using her towel to wipe her face.

"Seriously, that hot tub sure hit the spot." Mikoto said as she gave out a nice stretch.

"Yeah. It did." Akira added.

"Thanks for the awesome idea Tenma. I sure feel super relaxed now." I said, smiling towards Tenma.

I could tell her face flushed from shyness. "That's good to know..."

"Ladies, I made a snack for you all. I even made some iced tea to cool you off." Yakumo said as she entered the bedroom with a tray of food. She set the tray down on the floor as we huddled around.

"Oh boy! Food! Yummy!" Tenma said with a bright smile.

"Wow. How thoughtful of you." Eri said, looking at Yakumo.

Yakumo flushed from shyness and spoke, "O-Oh no. Thank you. This is for taking care of my sister." She said with a warm, shy smile. "Have a nice night ladies." She bowed once again and closed the bedroom door.

"You're sister is so sweet." I said to Tenma with a smile.

"She really is! I'm so lucky to have her!" Tenma said, shouting like a child.

 _It amazes me that Yakumo is extremely mature of her age. She is definitely opposite from Tenma._

"These snacks look delicious!" Mikoto shouted.

"Yeah! I'm starved." Eri said, looking at the tray of food.

"Agreed." Akira said.

I looked at the tray. There were the iced teas Yakumo mentioned as well as a plate of sweets, cake and pudding.

"Okay ladies! Let's dig in!" Tenma shouted as she picked up a spoon and started eating.

The rest of us did the same and snacked in.

* * *

After we all stuffed our faces from the wonderful sweets, we gave out a satisfied sigh and laughed.

"I'm happy it's just the five of us tonight." I said, excited that I'm able to spend quality time with my friends.

"Same here. No boys around." Eri said.

"Well, I just think it's great to get away from everyone once in a while. It's just us ladies." Mikoto smiled.

Akira didn't say anything and she just nodded her head.

I looked at Tenma and noticed that she was mumbling among herself. She seemed to be in a real deep thought. Not paying attention to a single word we just said.

"Hey Tenma?" I called out to her. She seemed to snap out of it and looked at me. "You okay?" I asked her.

Once again, she began to mumble among herself as the rest of the ladies and I stared at her. _What is on her mind?_ Tenma finally gave a 'gulp' and faintly mumbled a few words. "Well...is there anyone you girls like?"

"Eh!?" Mikoto said, surprised from Tenma's question. "Why ask that all of sudden Tenma?"

"I'm just curious. Is there any guy you like Mikoto?" Tenma asked, staring at Mikoto.

Mikoto then looked at Tenma strangely and sighed. "You're weird Tenma."

"You didn't even deny that question Mikoto." Eri said.

"So?" Mikoto crossed her arms and looked at Eri.

"So?" Eri repeated. "You had three boys ask you out within the past month and you turned them all down."

Tenma was taken back from Eri's comment. "What!? Three guys!? Seriously!?"

"Wow. I'm impressed." I said, shocked as well. "But if you turned them all down, does that mean you already have someone in mind?"

Mikoto's face flushed but she quickly shook her head. "N-No! I just don't like anyone right now!" She flailed her arms around, defending herself.

Eri smirked and flipped her hair behind her back. "Well, that's nothing compared to the five boys that wants me to be their girlfriend." She said egotistically.

My eyes widened as well as Tenma's. "Five boys!?" Tenma shouted.

"You girls are weird." Akira said as she sipped her iced tea.

I sat there and laughed. _I didn't realize how popular these girls are._

"Well, what about you Sai?" Tenma asked, breaking my small train of thought. "Hm? Me?" I looked at her, unsure what to say.

"Sai, you technically have 90% of the boys going crazy over you. How can you so gullible about that?" Eri said, narrowing her eyes.

I looked at Eri and shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know." I said with a slight laugh.

"Sai! I can't believe you're so popular!" Tenma screamed.

"W-What!? I'm still a new girl though." I said, feeling shy now that the attention is towards me.

"Come on Sai. We've been seeing you get hit on by the boys, one by one. I'm pretty sure Fuyuki has a crush on you." Mikoto said as she patted my back roughly.

I started to flush. _It really is embarrassing..._ "H-Hey guys...you're making me feel weird..."

"Oh Hon. Don't feel weird. You're technically more popular than me." Eri said, flipping her hair once again. "I'm sort of jealous. Usually I'd like to be the popular one around."

I looked at Eri and blinked a couple times. "Jealous? Why? I don't really care about popularity..." I trailed off. "All I care about is being friends with everyone." I smiled.

"Well, you are popular with the boys because you're really pretty." Akira said.

"Plus, you're hanging with us." Eri said, crawling next to me and hung her arm around my shoulder. "You should know that us ladies, we're considered the most popular girls of Class 2-C." I could tell Eri was saying it with a lot of pride.

"Well...I wouldn't say 'popular' it's more like we are well known among the entire class." Mikoto said, rephrasing Eri's sentence.

"It's also because we're really cool!" Tenma added with her bright smile and had her thumbs up towards me.

I looked at each girl and accepted the words they said. "I guess so." I smiled.

"You know..." Mikoto spoke, placing a finger to her chin. "...that reminds me, have you changed your mind about Suga yet Sai?"

My face flushed once again after Mikoto spoke. _Why is she bringing up Suga right now? Why is the attention still on me!?_

"That's right!" Eri jumped in, grinning towards me. "You thought Suga was charming. I'm pretty sure you blushed when he called you 'the cutest girl' during Art class."

I was still blushing madly. I placed my hands to my face to hide off the redness on my cheeks. "N-No!" I defended myself.

"Yes she did." Akira said, calling me out. I freaked out and looked at her. "A-Akira!"

Tenma looked at me with determination in her eyes, "You should totally spend some time with Suga! If you get to know him more, you two are bound to go out with each other!"

I don't know why, but I choked when trying to speak. "W-What's with the s-sudden topic on S-Suga!? I-I just think he's charming! That's all!"

Eri gave out a sigh and spoke, "Oh come on. You should at least give it a try."

"Yeah! Don't be afraid Sai! I bet the two of you will work out for sure!" Mikoto laughed as she patted my back harshly.

I looked at the ground in defeat. These ladies will not leave me alone about this. "I-I just don't think...he's my type..." I finally said.

 _I do think Suga is charming and good looking, but I just don't think I would chase after him._

Tenma looked at me and began to pout. "Oh please, please, please, PLEASE Sai!" She started to beg. "Give Suga a try! It'll be awesome!"

I couldn't help but to give out a nervous laugh. I looked at each girls face and let out a long sigh. "I guess..." I spoke quietly, "I guess I can give it a try. Only on **one date** though." I looked at each of them with a serious look, emphasis on the single date. They all cheered and smiled towards me.

"That's more like it Sai!" Mikoto said with her fist in the air.

Eri used the back of her hand to cover her sudden laughter. "Doll, we were just teasing you! I can't believe we manage to make you agree to go on a date with Suga!"

My jaw dropped. "You fell for it." Akira said. My jaw continued to hang. Tenma sat there, giggling her butt off with Eri.

"It's time to hook the two of you up!" Mikoto said in excitement. "You should ask him out on Monday!"

I shut my mouth and glared at the girls. "I can't believe this..." I said quietly.

 _I can't believe they tricked me to do this. Now I really have to go on a date with Suga. Will he even agree to it? What if he only thinks of me as a 'cute' girl and doesn't think of me as anything else?_

Whatever the case, I already have a strong feeling that the girls and I are going to get along extremely well.

Now that Eri mentioned about Art class not too long ago, it reminded me of my curiosity on Harima. He seems like an interesting person.

The girls were laughing from the trick but soon died down when I started speaking, "Ladies, I have something to ask." I took a deep breath and stated my request, "Can I know a little information about Harima?"

Eri was the first one to feel surprised and questioned my request. "Why do you want to know anything about that Hige?"

"Yeah. You interested in Harima or something?" Mikoto asked, looking at me with questionable eyes.

I placed my finger to my chin and thought about my next words. "Well, since he sits in front of me and I had him as my partner in Art, I was just curious about who he is."

They all looked at each other and then looked at me.

"Let's just say, Harima isn't someone you should be messing with." Mikoto said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"He's a delinquent." Akira answered.

"Huh? Really?" _Harima's a delinquent?_

"Yeah. Plus he can be so arrogant." Eri said, feeling disgusted.

"Well, why do you think that?" I asked her.

"That's because he acts all mighty and tough. They guy doesn't even have any friends." She answered as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Almost every boy in class is scared of him." Akira chimed in.

I just sat there and took in all the information. _Poor Harima. He doesn't seem to be very popular in the class._

"I think Harima is an okay person." Tenma spoke. I looked up to see her as she tried to put up a serious expression. I nodded my head in agreement. "I also think Harima is an okay person. He seemed kind to me. Or at least, he hasn't been acting like a jerk to me yet."

"That's good. You shouldn't be scared of that Hige. He's just a loser." Eri said as she began to yawn.

"I'm not scared of him. I just find him more interesting than any other guy since he's different." I said, yawning in return from seeing Eri.

"Suit yourself Sai." Mikoto said, stretching her arms. "I guess we should head to bed. I'm feeling tired."

"What!?" Tenma shouted, still hyper as always. "I'm just getting started." she whined. Tenma stood up and started air punching and made martial arts noises.

I couldn't help but to laugh towards her. "You're such a silly girl Tenma. I think we should really get our beauty rest."

Eri looked at me and winked, "Now you're speaking my language. Night ladies."

We all took out our sleeping bags and made ourselves comfortable. We said our 'good nights' and tried to go to sleep.

I really enjoyed the night I had with the ladies. This is something I don't really do since Okinawa was a boring area and not a lot of friendships were made there. I'm really thankful to have met them. As for Monday, let's see how things will go with Suga.


	5. Bus Ride

Monday morning came around and I sulked my way towards school.

 _I still can't believe the girls tricked me into agreeing on having one date with Suga._ I thought to myself while walking to school alone.

There were students grouped up together as they chatted about their weekends. I even seen some of my classmates walking by me as we waved at each other. It wasn't until I was close to the school gates that I noticed Suga and Aso walking up ahead, chatting and laughing among each other. I couldn't help but to blush a bit. _Should I ask him today?_

Being a few feet behind the two best friends, I could tell that I was mumbling lowly to myself and was fidgeting my fingers while still walking. _Should I!? What if I just confront my friends and they'll let me off the hook? I don't think I'm ready to date yet..._

"Hey, New Girl." My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden voice next to me. I jumped a bit, startled by this and turned to see that it was Harima who approached me. "O-Oh! Good morning Harima." I greeted him with a nervous smile.

Harima raised an eyebrow before questioning me, "You okay? You were mumbling to yourself just now." I looked at him, eyes wide. "I-I see. I was just thinking about something. That's all." I gave him another nervous smile. Harima looked at me and then shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever." Was all that came out from his mouth.

We entered the school property and went into the classroom. I went to my respective seat as I was greeted by my friends. I greeted them and we chatted away the little time we had before Mr. Tani came into the classroom.

Once Mr. Tani did step foot, the entire class shut their mouths and eyed the teacher. We watched Mr. Tani walk up to the podium and cleared his throat. "Good Morning Class. I have a surprise for you all." He said, pushing back his glasses with his finger, "Today, we're all going on a Field Trip!" He said in excitement.

The room was silent as news of a surprise field trip sank into our minds. It was soon followed by all the students jumping from their chairs, screaming out, "YEAH!" at the top of their lungs. Mr. Tani ordered us all to leave the classroom in a single line as we made our way towards the school gates and stood in front of the transporting bus.

"Wow. I can't believe Mr. Tani is surprising us with a field trip." I said with a smile. "My first field trip at Yagami High."

"Well I think this is a good way to start the week. It'll be fun to get of school work for once you know." Mikoto winked.

Tenma raised her arms in the air and cheered, "Yay! Field trip! Field trip!"

Akira stayed silent meanwhile Eri looked at Tenma, embarrassed at her childlike actions.

Every one of us hopped onto the bus and picked a seat. The girls and I headed towards the back because that's where the fun always is! The bus started moving as we sat across from each other, talking among ourselves and keeping track of who sits where.

"This is going to be exciting. I wonder if the boys might come to the back and try to talk to us." Eri said with pride and confidence as she patted her cheek.

Mikoto sighed and looked at Eri, "You can talk to the boys. I'm into no such thing." Akira nodded her head in agreement.

I looked at Tenma and she was twirling her fingers. I had a strange feeling that she's probably thinking about Karasuma. I leaned over and whispered in her ear, "You thinking about sitting with Karasuma, right Tenma?" She jumped at my words and I could see her face flushed. "Y-Yes...I was hoping I can sit with him..."

I stood up slightly from my seat and looked for the black mushroom cut boy. I noticed that Karasuma was sitting alone just four rows ahead of us. I sat back down and winked at Tenma. "You're in luck. He's sitting four rows ahead and he's _alone._ " I emphasized on that to tease her.

Mikoto and Eri giggled and 'oooh'-ed towards Tenma as she got up from her seat, face all red. "W-What!? I-I'm gonna go k-keep him company!" With that, Tenma scooted over and approached the quiet boy. The girls and I watched as Tenma walked four rows down and spoke nervously towards Karasuma. Judging by reading her mouth, she asked if she could sit next to him. We all watched as Karasuma nodded his head and Tenma sat next to him.

"That was fast..." Mikoto said, surprised and amazed at Tenma's sudden courage.

With Tenma gone, It was only Eri and I sitting on one side while Mikoto and Akira sat on the opposite. The bus was moving for a good fifteen minutes and we all chatted and continued to spy on Tenma and Karasuma. They were just sitting there in silence. "How boring." Eri said with a pout.

The rest of us nodded our head in agreement until Mikoto placed her hand on my shoulder. "You know Sai, while we're busy spying on Tenma, I noticed that Suga is just three rows ahead of us. Why don't you go up and ask him like on a date." She flashed her cheesy smile and nudged at my shoulder.

I could feel a tint shade of red on my face. "N-Now?" I still didn't want to go through with it.

"Yes now. He's sitting next to Aso, maybe you can ask Aso to switch places with you." Eri said as she winked at me.

My face was flushing once more as I sat there nervously. "I-I don't know you guys..." I twirled my fingers around.

"Just do it." Akira said as she helped me up form my seat and gave me a light push ahead.

I stumbled a bit but fixed my posture. I turned around to glare at the girls and they all gave me a thumbs up and mouthed, 'good luck'. I sighed in defeat and started walking slowly since the bus was starting to move a bit rowdy. Right when I was standing a row behind him, I could feel nerves around my body and I tensed up a bit. My heart was beating a bit rapidly just thinking about going through with this.

 _I can't do this!_ A thought yelled in my head as I became overwhelmed and flopped on an empty seat to the right. I didn't even pay attention to whoever it was that I was sitting next to but I sighed out in relief as I prevented from being a fool of myself.

"Uh...here there?" I heard a familiar deep voice spoke to me. I jumped and turned to see that I was once again with Harima. "What? Did I scare you or something?"

I felt my face flush from embarrassment and wailed my hands around. "N-No! Sorry about that Harima. I was just startled."

Harima was sitting on the window seat, one arm resting by the window and had his chin resting on his palm. He raised his eyebrow like he did earlier today and shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever. Why are you here anyways?"

I laughed nervously and smiled towards Harima, "Well, I was supposed to do something but I chickened out last minute. Is it alright if I sit next to you instead?" I asked him while scratching the back of my head and looked as people stared towards the two of us. I ignored them and looked back at Harima. He was looking out the window. "Do whatever you want."

With a sigh of relief, I sat back and relaxed myself in my new seat. I didn't expect to be stuck with Harima because things were getting slightly awkward between the two of us. It was silent in our seats. Neither Harima or I said a single word and the silence was killing me!

"Hey, Harima?" I spoke quietly. He didn't seem to hear me. He was still looking out the window, all dazed and daydreaming. It was the same dazed look he gave during Art Class. "Harima?" I spoke his name once again as I poked his shoulder. That finally got his attention as he snapped back at looked at me. "S-Sorry. Y-You were day dreaming."

He then crossed his arms and narrowed his eyebrows. "Oh? My bad. Is there something you need?"

I closed my fist tightly and swallowed hard. "I-I was wondering if I can get to know you more. Y-you know, since I'm still sort of new." I gave him a nervous smile.

Harima gave me a blank look, as if he was surprised to hear that from me. "You want to get to know about me?" He questioned, eyebrow raised once again. I nodded my head and gulped again. "Y-Yes."

He unfolded his arms and placed his arms on his lap. "Well, there's nothing important you should know about me. I'm just here, a normal guy attending a normal class. Pretty straight forward."

I slightly frowned from his answer. It felt like he didn't really wanna talk to me. "I-I see...is there anything you like?" He was silent for a bit but then said, "no."

Even though Harima looked like he didn't want to talk to me, it also seemed as if he has something to hide as well. I didn't bother to say anything else so we sat next to each other in silence until we hit a pit stop.

Mr. Tani sat up from the front row and turned towards us. "Alright Class. We're going to have a fifteen minute bathroom break. Please be back here on time."

With that, we all got up and got off the bus. I went inside the women's bathroom and was soon joined by the girls. Mikoto was the first one to barge through the door and wrapped her arm around my shoulder. "Hey Sai, what were you doing with Harima huh?" She nudged my head.

"What?! Sai was sitting with Harima!?" Tenma shouted in shock.

"Yeah. I bet you chickened out and sat with that Hige instead." Eri said, crossing her arms impatiently.

My face was feeling flushed again. "I was getting nervous you guys. I just couldn't do it so I sat at a random seat which happened to be next to Harima."

"Do you like Harima?" Akira asked directly. I don't know why, but my face flushed even more as words stammered in my mouth, "N-N-No!"

Having feelings for Harima never even crossed through my mind. I only found him as an interesting person to get to know. However, I do find Harima to be good looking, _BUT I'M NOT SAYING THAT TO THE GIRLS!_

"Okay Sai, once we get back on the bus, I'm making sure you're sitting next to Suga!" Mikoto said as she patted my back.

"No chickening out this time." Eri said as she placed her hands on her hips and winked towards me.

Akira nodded her head as she was drying her hands from the machine. "Agreed."

Tenma was laughing as she gave out a cheer. "Sai and Suga! Sai and Suga!"

With my face blushing madly, I tried to change the subject. "So Tenma, did you get to do anything with Karasuma on the bus?"

Now it was Tenma's turn to blush madly as she spoke nervously, "N-Not really...I sat next to him but..." she trailed off.

"But?" Akira asked.

"But I was too nervous to talk to him!" Tenma shouted as she lowered her head in defeat.

"Come on! That's pathetic Tenma!" Mikoto yelled, pinching Tenma's cheeks and started squeezing them hard. Her face was squished together as Tenma tried to speak, "S-Sorry I didn't know what to do!"

I looked at the poor girl and placed a finger to my chin, thinking about how I could help Tenma. As soon as an idea popped into mind, I snapped my fingers and said, "I got it!" I reached into my bag and whipped out a deck of playing cards. I handed them to Tenma as she gave me a curious look. "Play cards with Karasuma! That'll break the ice between the two of you." I smiled towards her.

Akira nodded her head as if she was agreeing to the idea. Meanwhile Eri and Mikoto flashed a smile towards the nerve-wrecking girl. Tenma grabbed the deck of cards from my hands and gave me her bright smile. "I'll do that! Thank's Sai!"

* * *

Our ten minute break was over and the girls and I were making our way back towards the bus. Tenma caught up with Karasuma while the rest of us snickered behind the two. Mikoto was the first to notice Suga and Aso standing behind us and looked at Eri with a smirk. I looked at the two and they grinned towards me devilishly.

"Hey, Aso." Mikoto called out to the boy as she approached Aso.

Aso and Suga stopped talking and looked at Mikoto. "Hey Mikoto. You need something?"

Eri walked behind Mikoto and the two stood next to Aso. Mikoto grabbed Aso's arm and started dragging him away from Suga. "I need to have a word with you on the bus. Sorry Suga, but I'm borrowing your best friend."

"H-Huh!?" Aso was confused at what was going on but he impishly complied to Mikoto's sudden action. Suga just stood there and watched as Eri and Mikoto dragged his best friend away. I stood there and stared at my two friends winking at me as they went inside the bus with Aso in their hands. I then looked at Akira who stayed quiet. "Akira?"

She looked at me with her cool eyes and placed her hand on my shoulder, "Here, you can borrow Sai. Sit with her." with that, she pushed me towards Suga and hopped onto the bus.

As I stumbled from Akira's push, I saw Suga step forward and caught me with his arm around my waist. I immediately blushed from this and quickly moved away. "S-Sorry Suga..." I said shyly.

My heart was beating fast from Suga's sudden touch. I never had anyone wrap their arm around my waist so it was a bit nerve-wrecking. I looked at Suga and I could see that his face was a bit flushed as well. _Maybe he's happy that he's alone with the cute one._

"It's no problem Sai. I'm just sort of confused at why my best friend has suddenly been kidnapped." He said with a laugh.

I laughed along with him. He was a pretty funny guy. "I have no clue as well. My friends are just crazy." I added with a smile.

Suga sighed as he scratched the back of his head. "Well, I guess we should get on the bus." He said, trying not to make things awkward. I nodded my head and smiled again.

So, Suga and I got on the bus and walked towards his original seat, three rows ahead from the girls. As I was going to sit by the window seat, I decided to look back at Harima's seat but saw that he wasn't there. I double take on observing the bus and realized that he isn't even back on the bus.

"Is something wrong?" Suga asked me. He had a concerned look on his face as I sat by the window seat. I shook my head and smiled towards him. "Nothing really. I was just wondering where Harima went. The bus started moving and he isn't at the seat behind us."

Suga blinked in confusion then looked at the empty seat behind. He then shrugged his shoulders and sat next to me. "Guess he's missing." He said it nonchalantly. I was confused at why he was so calm with this. "Shouldn't we look for Harima?" "Not really. To us, it's no surprise that Harima goes missing. He always does that and eventually, he'll turn up by the end of the day or tomorrow."

I sat there, shocked to hear this. _Harima always does this kind of thing? Disappear and reappear? Where does this guy even go?_ Shaking the thoughts off my head, I looked back at Suga as we made conversations.

It was nice getting to know Suga during our bus ride, I learned that he likes running and playing basketball which was interesting. He's even on the basketball team! On the other hand, I was explaining to Suga about myself and my family. We were both engaged in an awesome conversation until we were interrupted with the constant stares that were towards us. Well, the stares were mainly from the boys for Class 2-C.

I could tell that they were all curious as to why I was sitting next to Suga now since Harima is out of the picture. Then, whispers were made as the two of us stayed quiet and listened.

" _Woah, is Suga making a move on her?"_

 _"No fair! I wish I was the one she's stuck on the bus with! Can't believe Akira pushed Sai towards him!"_

 _"Suga is one lucky person man."_

 _"Oh! I bet Suga is going to take this opportunity to grab her boobs!"_

That last whisper made me know that it was Imadori for sure. I could feel my face flushing uncontrollably as I cupped my cheeks to hide the redness from Suga. The both of us then looked at each other, Suga's face was red as well, probably from hearing what Imadori said. "S-Sorry for all those things you heard..." He said shyly.

I swallowed my saliva and let go of my face. I'm still a bit flushed but there was nothing I could do. _I'm somehow the center of attention once again and it's always embarrassing!_ Letting out a deep sigh, I forced a smile to hide my embarrassment. Looking at Suga, I could tell he's twice as embarrassed as I am. It's his friends that are making those comments after all...

"So..." Suga cleared his throat, breaking the awkward silence. "How do you like Yagami High so far?"

I smiled towards him. _How sweet of him to start off a nice discussion again._ "I love it here more than Okinawa."

"Really? Why's that?" He asked curiously.

I put a finger to my chin, thinking about how I can summarize all the reason in just a few short sentences, "Well, I guess it's because the environment is a lot more nicer than the city. Here, everything is nice and peaceful while Okinawa was just full of crowded streets and people. Plus, I love the people here. You are all really nice and wonderful people. As for Class 2-C, I love all of you. Never have I ever met such awesome classmates and enjoyed my time here in just a couple days." My smile was wider when I answered Suga's question. _Honestly, I really do love this school._

Looking at Suga, I could tell his face was all flushed. "Y-You like all of us?"

"Yeah! I do! Especially you guys, you are all so funny which is what I really like that about you." I said with a slight giggle. A tint of red flushed across my cheeks since I sort of given him a compliment.

Suga's face flushed even more. He cleared his throat again and looked at me. "Uh...Well...I'm sure you know that I find you cute...right?" I nodded my head. _I'm surprised he's pretty straight forward about this._

"I overheard what you said when Ms. Sasakura partnered me with Harima in Art class." I said. I could heard a 'gulp' coming from Suga.

He laughed nervously and scratched his face. "I-I guess you did...haha."

"You wanna know something funny?" I spoke, trying not to make Suga feel uncomfortable.

He moves his hand away and looked at me. "What is it?" He asked.

"I sorta...kind of...purposely got trapped with you because...the girls want me to ask you out on a date." I said, looking shyly at the ground with my face feeling flushed.

With the group of boys still eyeing the two of us, I could hear them all gasp in shock.

 _"N-No way! She asked Suga out!?"_

 _"Suga has officially became the luckiest guy of Class 2-C!"_

 _"WHAT DOES SUGA HAVE THAT I DON'T HAVE!?"_

 _"Dammit! Now Sai is off limits!"_

 _"I should've known I wouldn't have a chance with her..."_

Our faces flushed once again. "Y-Y-You're asking me out!?" Suga asked with a shocked expression. I didn't understand why he was shocked. I raised my eyebrow and looked at him in confusion. Suga fixed his composure and then looked at me. "S-Sorry. It's just, I'm usually the one that's desperate for a girl. Aso's always the ladies man. No girl ever approached me."

I couldn't help but to chuckle. "That's funny Suga." He seemed embarrassed as he gawked at me. "I find you to be cute as well. Which is why I'd like to go on a date with you just so we can get to know each other more." I said, smiling towards him.

Suga seemed to be lost and dazed. He then whispered something low, "I-I can't believe I'm the one you want to talk to." I giggled again. _These men sure are funny and weird but I love it._

The bus finally came to a stop and we all looked out the window. Everyone in class gasped at the sight of our field trip. We were at a amusement park!

"Okay Class, here's your surprise! We're going to spend the day at the amusement park! Enjoy your time there and be back in two hours!" Mr. Tani said as the entire class cheered.

"Awesome! An amusement park trip is just what we all need!" Suga shouted in excitement.

I smiled at the fact that it was going to be a fun trip. _Yagami High just become more awesome!_

"Please make a single file out of the bus and don't forget, two hours." Mr. Tani repeated himself as we all exit the bus.

The girls were standing next to Aso in front of the bus. Suga and I stepped up and stood with them. Suga and Aso hi-five each other while Mikoto hung her arm around my shoulder and whispered in my hear.

"Sooooo...are you two going to take advantage of this trip as your date?" She said quietly.

"Eh?" My face flushed as I looked at Akira who slightly winked.

"You totally should doll." Eri said as she hung her arm opposite of Mikoto. "Tenma and Karasuma are going to the park alone."

She was pointing at the two that entered the park together. I smiled at the thought of Tenma being with her crush.

I looked at Suga. Although I think he's cute, I don't have a crush on him though. _Is it okay to go on a date with him?_

"Come on. Enjoy the trip with Suga. We're gonna hang around with Aso." Mikoto said as she looked at the two boys and winked towards Suga.

"Well, hang in there buddy." Aso said as he patted Suga's back and walked towards the girls. "Have fun Sai." He said with a thumbs up.

I laughed nervously and watched as Aso walked off with my girlfriends. _My friends sure are something...them and their devious plans..._

Suga placed a hand on my shoulder and I turned to look at him. "What now Suga?" I asked him.

"I guess we can take this opportunity as a sign for our date." Suga said with his charming smile.

"Okay." I smiled widely.

Suga offered his arm as I linked my arm around it and the both of us walked through the park entrance.


	6. Date with Suga

Suga and I passed through the entrance of the amusement park. Since we were here on a field trip, we didn't have to pay for the entrance fee and were given a certain amount of tickets for rides and snacks. I could tell that most of the students were staring at us. Some looked at Suga in jealousy while others adored the sight of us together. I couldn't help but to blush the entire time as I tried my best to hide the shyness from Suga. I'm pretty sure he noticed because I noticed a smirk across his face.

"So Sai, what do you wanna do?" Suga asked, holding up the tickets while observing our surroundings. "There's a Ferris Wheel, you wanna go through that last?" Looking at him, I could see a hint of red across his cheeks. "Y-You know, since it's commonly a romantic thing to do."

I couldn't help but to giggle. I don't know why, but I'm actually glad the girls convinced me to go on this date with Suga. He really does seem like a nice guy and this is the perfect opportunity for us to get to know each other even more. "Yeah. Let's go there last." I said with a smile.

"Alright. What do you want do first?" He asked, scratching his face while feeling shy all of a sudden. I unknowingly grabbed Suga's hand and started dragging him to the first ride I had my sights on. "Roller Coaster!" I said in excitement. "Let's go on the roller coaster!"

With that, the two of us lined up and handed in our tickets. We sat at the front of the ride and enjoyed the thrilling sensation of the roller coaster. The ride was really fun due to the fact that the drop was close to 90 degrees and the screaming was the best part. I enjoyed the roller coaster but Suga looked like he feared it and tried to his his emotion.

"That was fun! I love roller coasters!" I shouted in excitement.

Suga sighed but smiled towards me. "At least you enjoyed it." He then placed a hand behind my back and motioned me to walk forward. "What next?"

I eyed the area and noticed some of our classmates lining up for some bumper cars. "There!" I shouted as I pointed towards the next ride. "Want to ride those bumper cars? We can take this opportunity to hit our classmates." I flashed a grin at him.

He couldn't help but to chuckle. I guess it's because my inner child-like behavior is amusing him. I can't help it though. I never really had a chance to go out and have fun since my life at Okinawa was boring. "Let's go." Suga said as he motioned me towards the next ride. Once we hopped on line, we were greeted by my girlfriends and Aso. Some of the 'perverted' guys from class were lined up as well.

"Oh? If it isn't Sai and Suga." Mikoto said while flashing her cheesy grin.

"I hope the two of you are having a blast." Eri said with a smirk as she secretly winked at me.

I couldn't help but to blush. My friends sure knows how to tease and embarrass me...

"Guys!" I shouted in embarrassment as I playfully slapped the two girls. I looked at Akira and she knew to stay silent. _She's the smart one in this friendship._ I then looked at Aso. He and Suga were whispering among each other. Makes me wonder what they're saying.

"It's our turn." Akira said as the employee asked us for our tickets. We all handed him three tickets and stepped through the turnstile. I quickly ran to a purple car that caught my attention since it matches my hair color plus it's my favorite color. I looked around and noticed that everyone else picked a car that matched their hair color as well. I chuckled at the irony of this.

"Well, hello there Sai~" I hear a voice call out to me in a flirty tone. I looked to my right and saw that it was Yoshidayama. "It's nice bumping into you."

I couldn't help but to laugh at the cheesy pun Yoshidayama made. "Nice bumping into you too. Just letting you know, I won't hold back on my driving skills." I looked at him with a gamer face on. At first, Yoshidayama was shocked to see my competitive look but then gave me the same expression. "Alright. If I get to knock you off, then it's my turn to go on a date with you."

Just then, Yoshidayama's car was bumped and he was pushed a couple feet back. The person that bumped into him was Suga. "Back off man! She got dibs on me!" Suga shouted. I laughed even more. _Boys sure a funny._

"I'm coming for you Sai!" I heard Mikoto shouted towards me. I swiftly turned to my left to see Mikoto driving towards me. Just when she was going to bump me, I spun the wheel and stepped on the peddle. I was driving backwards to avoid getting hit by Mikoto. "Sorry Mikoto! But my driving skills are on point!" I shouted back as I kept driving in reverse, avoiding anyone that got in my way.

"Wow Sai! You managed to avoid Mikoto! Let's see if you can avoid me!" Eri shouted as she made her way towards me. I just kept driving around, bumping into some people while avoiding others. I make some U-turns to avoid a swarm of cars that were heading towards me and I sped off in a different direction. I was seriously having a blast with this!

It wasn't until someone actually hit my car that my streak came to an end. I turned to see who it was and I was stopped by Akira. She somehow got me from behind. "Got you." She said so calmly. I smiled towards her and gave her a thumbs up. "Good one Akira!"

She gave me one of her silent smirks and drove off to hit other people. Just as I was going to step on the pedal, I was T-boned by Suga. "Got you Sai." He said, flashing me a cheesy smile. "I guess you did." I said, returning the smile.

Our fun time with the bumper cars finally came to an end as each of us stepped off and exited through the turnstile. I couldn't stop smiling from the awesome time and fun I had with the bumper cars. I'm sure everyone else enjoyed their time as well. "Man, that was fun." Aso said. He was going to give Suga a 'high-five' but was soon grabbed by Mikoto and got dragged away from Suga and I.

"We'd love to stay and chat, but we're going to leave the two of you alone now!" Eri shouted as she winked towards the two of us.

"O-Oi!" Aso whined but when shrugged his shoulder at Suga while still being dragged away.

I still couldn't stop laughing. I noticed Suga looking at me. He seemed a bit dazed but soon looked away with a blush on his face. "Y-You seem really happy Sai." He said. I looked at him and smiled. "Of course! I actually get to spend time with friends. It's something I never had an opportunity to do at Okinawa."

He looked at me with his charming gaze and let out a wide smile. "Well then, I guess that's a good thing for me and everyone else!" "mmhmm!" I nodded my head and made a simple noise. Suga then looked around and noticed the tall pole with a giant clock on it. He was looking at the time. "You know, we only have a half hour left. Want to start lining up for the Ferris Wheel?"

I looked at the clock as well. _When you're having absolute fun, time will seriously pass by really quick!_ "Let's go!" I said in excitement. With that, Suga and I walked side by side towards the Ferris Wheel. Once we were on line, I noticed that Tenma and Karasuma were lined up just ahead of us. I couldn't help but to chuckle at the sight of them. They were both silent but I could tell that Tenma is extremely nervous to go on that Ferris Wheel with Karasuma alone!

Now that I think about it, _I'm going to be alone with Suga on this ride. Yet, why don't I feel nervous about being alone with him? How strange..._

"Watch your step Sai." Suga said as he helped me inside the ride. "Thank you Suga." I said with a smile as I went inside the carriage and took a seat. Suga entered behind me and sat next to me. The employer closed the door, locked it and pressed the button to move the wheel.

We began elevating higher for a couple seconds but then came to a stop. It's always a common thing for Ferris Wheels, you get on, move for a couple seconds just for the next group of people to hop on. Once the entire ride was full of people, the wheel finally began moving. Our cart probably went full circles twice and on the third time, we came to a halt on the very top of the ride. I looked down to see the view and I could see the entire amusement park from the top and the sight was beautiful.

"Woah." I said in amazement. My breath was taken away as I could hear the same response from Suga. "Wow, it's pretty up here." He said. My eyes wondered every inch of the view, trying to keep a photographic memory of the sight. After a minute or so, I realized that we were still hanging on top. "Hm? Shouldn't we be moving to the bottom by now?" I questioned.

Suga tried to look down to see what was going on. "No clue. Who know's, maybe there's a problem with the ride?" He said, unsure of the situation. I took my eyes off from the view and sat back on the seat. "Well, I have no complaints. I like it up here." I said, smiling innocently. Suga did the same and sat next to me. I could feel our shoulders touching.

I did blush from this but I didn't feel nervous or felt any rapid heartbeats. _That is strange, at the start of our date, I was all nervous and such, but now, I feel nothing? What does that mean?_

"Uh..S-Sai?" Suga called out to me quietly. "Eh?" I looked at the red head and his face was flushed. "How do you like this date so far?" He asked.

I looked at his flushed face and smiled towards him. "Fun! I'm having lots of fun!"

Suga's smile grew wide as his face was still flushed. "That's good. W-What about the date spent with me?" He asked suddenly. "Eh?" I looked at him, surprised from his question.

 _Now that I think about it, I do find Suga charming and good-looking. However, I thinking of Suga as boyfriend material never crossed my mind. Could it be that I don't have strong feelings for him? Was I only attracted to him just because of his looks? I mean, sure he has a nice personality. He's funny, kind, charming, and cool. Unfortunately, I can't think of Suga as more than a friend. Maybe this date helped me realize that I just want the two of us to stay as friends. But how do I say this to Suga!? I feel so bad on leading him on unintentionally!_

"What do you think of me? Now that our date is coming to an end?" He asked again. He seemed nervous since I was staying silent. All I could do was just stare at him. _What do I say?_

All of a sudden, the cart jerked and moved roughly. The cart shook a bit which caused us to lose our balance from sitting. "Ah!" "Gah!" We both yelped from the sudden movement. Suga was leaning close to me when he asked the question and the sudden movement caused him to completely lean towards my face. My eyes widened in complete shock.

Lips.

Lips are touching!

Our lips are touching!

Suga's lips are in contact with mine!

 _What is going on!?_ I screamed in my head.

With my eyes still wide, I could see that Suga's eyes are wide as well. Even though we were kissing, I couldn't help but to notice that there was no spark. My virgin lips was taken by Suga. _Suga has taken my first kiss and I feel nothing._ Not even a single blush came across my cheek. We both quickly parted ways and I held my fingers to my lips.

Suga's face was extremely red and he seemed to be in a panic. "I-I-I...I'm so sorry Sai! I-I didn't mean to steal your first kiss!" He shouted in a state of panic.

I kept my fingers at my lips and stared off in confusion. _I honestly felt no spark or chemistry. I really don't have special feelings for Suga._ "It-It's okay Suga..." I said to him quietly.

The Ferris Wheel was descending slowly while the two of us just stared at each other. Suga looked at me and touched his lips as well. It seemed he's deep in thought as well. "I...well..." He started speaking but wasn't sure what to say. "Did you feel anything? When we kissed?" He asked.

My eyes widened at his question. What do I say? "Uhmmm..." I wasn't able to speak up. Guilt swarmed through my mind. I'd feel terrible if I told him that I couldn't feel the chemistry. I don't want to break his heart.

Suga let out a defeated sigh and took a deep breath. "Please don't be sad with what I'm about to say." He spoke up. "Sai, I find you to be really cute, heck the cutest girl in class. But that kiss...I kinda didn't feel any spark in it. It seems strange, but I guess that moment made me realize that I can't see you as a girlfriend. I see you as just a friend." He sighed again and continued speaking, "Oh man. The guys will sure kill me for sure for this. But it's the truth Sai. I'm sorry if this is hurting your feelings."

I looked at Suga. I exhaled and sighed in relief. "Actually Suga, I thought the exact same thing." I said, smiling towards him. "I guess going on this date helped the both of us understand our feelings. We were just attracted to each other but in the end, we see each other as just friends."

He let out a small smile and nod his head. "Yeah. You're still cute though." Suga said as he lightly punched my shoulder. I couldn't help but to laugh at him. "You're such a silly person." I said.

As soon as we reached the bottom, the employees opened the door and let us out of the ride. It was time for us to head back to the bus and meet up with Mr. Tani. I looked at Suga and we both nodded our heads. "Friends?" I said. "Friends." He agreed with a smile. We shook our hands and met up with our friends when we got to the bus.

* * *

I met up with the girls and explained to them the entire situation. They all seemed sad to hear that Suga and I decided to remain friends and nothing more as our results from the date.

"Wah!? Really? Just friends?" Tenma said in disappointment.

"Sorry ladies, it's the truth. We really felt nothing when we kissed." I said.

Eri crossed her arms and shook her head. "How troublesome. We went through this trouble all for nothing."

"Argh!" Mikoto let out a cry of frustration. "Well this sucks. We thought the two of you would hit it off for sure. Oh well. I guess he's just not the one for you." She let out a heavy sigh.

"There's more fish in the sea." Akira said, reciting the cheesy line people always say when they can't find love.

I couldn't help but to let out a chuckle. She is right. There'll be another guy out there for me. Suga just isn't the one for me. I had forgotten to mention that the boys in class found out about our accidental kiss. Nishimoto yelled at Suga for breaking some sort of bro-code that they had but I didn't bother to understand what they were talking about. Fuyuki however shouted something along the lines of, "I still have a chance with her!" For the rest of the guys, they seem determined that I am no longer off limits.

"By the way..." I started speaking, turning my attention towards Tenma. "How was your alone time with Karasuma?" I asked, winking at her.

Tenma's face turned bright red as the other girls looked at her with devilish grins. "Did you had fun with Karasuma?" Mikoto asked her, nudging her shoulder.

"Heehee...well...it was fun being with him..." Tenma spoke quietly.

"Did something happen?" Akira asked.

Tenma's face pouted from the question. "Not really. We didn't really talk much. I just stuck by him the entire time. But he did say that he had fun at the amusement park."

"Well that's a good start!" Eri said as she snapped her fingers.

Mikoto raised her fist in the air, "Score one for Tenma!" She shouted.

* * *

We made it back to school in no time and it was already after school hours. Mr. Tani dismissed us when we exited from the bus and all the students started walking home. I was going to follow the girls on the walk home but I noticed a certain missing person within a good distance from the school bus. I ended up telling the girls to go home without me. I lied to them that I had something to take care of inside the school. They walked away and I approached the so called delinquent.

"What happened to you Harima?" I questioned while he was on his motorbike, starting the engine.

Harima took out his helmet and looked at me. "Oh. Hey New Girl." Was all he said. He didn't answer my question.

"Where did you go after our bus break? You disappeared when I got back on the bus." I said, repeating my question.

"Well, I hopped on the wrong bus by accident. It was my fault anyways, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." He answered nonchalantly.

 _Hopped on the wrong bus? That's such a silly thing to do._ "How did you managed to get back to school? Were you lost?"

"Nah. I wasn't lost." He said. "I hopped off the bus and hitched a ride back. It was plain and simple."

I couldn't help but to giggle. I remember Suga mentioning that he always disappeared from class and reappear in the nick of time. _So this is an example of Harima's disappearing acts. It's really funny._

"Well, the surprise trip Mr. Tani took us to was the amusement park. You missed out on all the cool rides and such." I said, smiling towards him.

Harima put on his helmet and revved up the motorbike. "I could care less about field trips. I prefer my own adventure like today's."

"Oh. I guess your disappearing act seemed fun." I said, giving him another smile.

"I suppose so." Harima said. "Judging by the look you're giving, I assume you had fun from the field trip?"

I nod my head and held a thumbs up. "You bet! I never had this type of fun from Okinawa so I was extremely happy!"

"That's good then." He said, giving me a thumbs up as well. "Well, if you excuse me New Girl, I have some business to take care of. I'll see you later."

With that, Harima stepped on the engine of the motor bike and drove off. I waved at him while he sped off and placed a hand over my chest. _I could feel my heart beating fast._ _It wasn't like this when I was with Suga but I felt it with Harima. What does that mean?_

Suddenly, I heard a faint sound of thunder and I looked at the sky. It was starting to get dark and gloomy up there. With that, I turned around and ran back home.


	7. Softball and Umbrella

It's been a few days since my date with Suga and our declaration of friendship. As usual, the guys in class wouldn't stop their attempts at getting our attention. Of course, Mikoto's been the more protective one and bashed at any guy that tried to get close to either one of us.

Right now, we have Homeroom in which it was supposedly our free time but Hanai walked up and stood in front of the classroom podium.

"Alright everyone!" Hanai started speaking, raising his voice. "For today's Homeroom, I, Haruki Hanai, Your class representative, has given us permission to use the field for a softball tournament!"

I looked at the Hanai and raised an eyebrow. "Softball tournament? Really?"

"Oh yes! Softball tournament indeed!" He shouted with pride. "This is a perfect opportunity to test our teamwork and take advantage of the weather to exercise our youth!"

While observing my classmates faces, there were mixed expressions. Imadori mentioned that he has no interest in participating, Karasuma was staring out the window as usual and Tenma sulked in her seat.

"Man. Why does it have to be softball...I'm really bad at sports..." Tenma whined as she slammed her face on her desk.

Eri flipped her hair and eyed each of us. "Softball doesn't sound like a bad idea to me. I've never played sports before."

My eyes widened at Eri's comment. "Eh? You don't play sports?" I questioned.

"Nope." She answered, shaking her head.

"Well, you're sure going to enjoy it. I think softball is fun!" Mikoto said as she held up two fingers, making a 'peace' sign.

"I don't mind playing." Akira said calmly.

Tenma was the only one out of he five of us to complain about Hanai's softball suggestion. "This really sucks! I'm going to embarrass myself!"

Before talking to my friend, I looked at Harima. He wasn't sleeping but his head a lowered and I think he's mumbling among himself. I looked at the guy in confusion but then turned my attention towards Tenma and showed her a reassuring smile. "Cheer up Tenma. I don't believe that you're bad at sports. Who knows, maybe you might be good at softball."

Mikoto, Eri and Akira nodded their heads, agreeing with what I said just so Tenma could cheer up. Unfortunately, Tenma raised her head and looked at me with watery eyes and a pout. "I wish what you're saying is true Sai. But I know that I'll be horrible at it. I just know it!"

I reached over and patted her shoulder to comfort her. I opened my mouth to speak but was soon caught off guard with Harima. He suddenly stood up from his seat and threw his arms in the air. "YEAH! LET'S DO IT!" was what he shouted on the top of his lungs.

Everyone in class was startled with Harima's shouting and I just remained in my seat, eyes wide. "H-Harima?"

"That's the spirit Harima!" Hanai shouted in approval. "You all should be like Harima and enjoy our youths!"

I looked at the two guys and laughed. They're the only two that are really into the sport. With that, Hanai ordered us to the locker room to change to our gym uniforms. We all did as we're told while chit chatting at the same time.

"I didn't see Harima as a guy that'd be interested in this sort of thing." I said while throwing on my white gym shirt.

"I'm just as surprised as you are. I have never seen Hige react like that before. I just hope I'm not on the same team as him. He'd kill my mojo." Eri said as she fixed her hair.

"I do wonder whose on which team for the game." Mikoto said.

"Erm...I wanna know which team Karasuma will be in..." Tenma chimed in quietly.

"Let's head to the field and find out." Akira said as she closed her locker and started walking out of the room.

Since we were all changed and ready, the girls and I followed after Akira and met up with the rest of our classmates in the field. Everyone crowded around Hanai as we counted off to decide our teams. Luckily, all my girlfriends were in the same team as I along with Nara, Yoshidayama, Sagano, Mai and Imadori, who decided to join last minute. We were in Team Red while the other, Team White had Suga, Aso, Nishimoto, Hanai, Harima, Fuyuki, Mihara, Yuuki and Ichijou.

* * *

We played Janken [ _Rock Paper Scissors_ ] to determine which team goes first. My team, Team Red, won so we got to play offense first.

"Yoosh! I'll bat first!" Mikoto shouted as she grabbed the metal bat and walked towards the white plate.

Everyone in Team White took their positions in the field while Mikoto practiced her swinging. Hanai walked up to the pitcher's spot. He pointed his glove towards Mikoto with a serious look on his face. "I won't go easy on you Suou!"

Mikoto returned the action with her metal bat pointing towards Hanai. "Same goes for you Hanai!" She said with a confident smirk.

"Yay! Go Mikoto!" Tenma cheered as the rest of our team stood behind the batting cage, awaiting our turn to bat.

"You got this Mikoto!" Eri cheered on as well. Akira and I stood there, nodding our heads, waiting for Hanai to play the first pitch.

With the ball in his hand, Hanai raised his arm and leaned back. "Here it comes!" Hanai shouted. He then threw the ball with a bit of force, pitching a fastball towards Mikoto.

Another smirk grew on Mikoto's face as she tighten her grip on the bat and swung it really hard. There, we could hear a nice ' _WHACK_ ' sound. The ball connected with the bat and was sent flying across the field. It fled so far back that the center fielder was unable to catch it. Mikoto basically hit a Home Run!

"Awesome! Score One for Team Red!" Mikoto shouted as she dropped the bat and ran around for the score.

"Nice one Mikoto!" Tenma cheered "She's so good at this!"

Eri smirked and crossed her arms. She then looked at Tenma and winked towards her, "Well, that's because Mikoto is good at practically anything."

"Indeed she is." Akira said.

"She's so athletic. I praise her for that." I said, smiling as Mikoto made her way back towards us. We each 'high-five' her and as my smile grew wider.

"Did you guys see Hanai's face? His reaction was priceless!" Mikoto said, pointing her thumb behind and laughed.

We looked behind her and noticed that Hanai's jaw dropped. He then fixed his posture and prepped for the next batter. Mai stepped up to bat but she strike out and then it was Sagano's turn. After two strikes, she managed to hit the ball on the third pitch and was safe on the first base. After Sagano was Nara's turn. He attempted to swing through each pitch but was struck out as well. So far, we have two outs and 1 point for the team.

"Alright. Whose next to bat?" I asked, looking around.

Akira walked up towards me and held the bat to my face. "You."

"Huh? Me?" I looked at her in confusion.

"It was supposed to be Tenma, but she chickened out." Akira responded as the both of us looked towards the tiny girl.

Tenma was standing farther back, lightly waving towards me with a nervous smile. "You got this Sai!"

"O-Okay." I grabbed the bat from Akira and stepped up towards the home plate. As I approached closer to my spot, I just noticed that the catcher from Team White was Harima.

"Hey, New Girl." Harima greeted me, still in squatting position.

"Hello Harima." I greeted back as I practiced my swinging. "It seems that you're on fire to play Softball today."

I heard Harima sigh as I turned my head slightly to look at him. "Well, got nothing else to do. I just thought some Softball might bring some fun for all of us. Plus, it's a good time to show off our skills." He said, staring at me through those shades of his, even though he has the catcher helmet on.

I don't know why, but I could feel my heart pumping rapidly and my cheeks getting all tingly. _Am I blushing from Harima's stare? How could I be blushing if I can't even see what his eyes look like!_ Thinking about this reminds me of that time when we were partnered in Art class. I could feel my face flushed even more.

"Ishikawa!" I heard Hanai shout my name.

I snapped out of my thoughts and turned my attention towards the Class rep. "Y-Yes!"

"Pay attention! I'm pitching!" He shouted again as he didn't hesitate to pitch a fastball towards me.

It took me a micro second for my brain to react from Hanai's action. "Oh crap!" were the only words that came out of my mouth as I gripped on my bat tightly and swung. I managed to hit the ball on the first turn and smacked it with extra force, causing the ball to fly across the field, just like Mikoto.

"Woah! It's a Home run!" I heard Yoshidayama shout behind the cage.

I stood in my spot and stared in awe as the ball I just hit. _Did I do that?_

"Alright Sai!" Mikoto shouted "Way to go!"

"Nice one." I heard Harima compliment towards me. I turned my head slightly and looked down, "Thanks Harima." I said with a smile. With that, I immediately dropped the bat and started running towards the bases.

I looked at Hanai and his jaw dropped once again. I couldn't help but to chuckle from his reaction. Following Sagano, I came across the third base which was where Suga stood. He held his hand out and I smacked it in return. "Good one Sai." He smiled towards me. "Thanks." I smiled back as I ran back towards Home.

While catching my breath, I walked back towards the girls as it was my turn getting the 'hi-fives'.

"Who knew you were good at this game." Eri said.

"I'm not good. It was just luck that I hit that ball. Let's just say, Hanai's fastballs are a bit intimidating." I responded with a slight chuckle.

"Nah. Hanai's pitches are nothing to me." Mikoto said with confidence.

"Tenma, you're next." Akira said as she tried handing the bat over towards Tenma.

With her hands shaking, Tenma grabbed the bat and slowly walked towards the batter's spot. She was actually walking incredibly slow where I walked up towards her and started pushing Tenma.

"S-Sai! I'm nervous!" Tenma shrieked.

"You'll be fine Tenma." I reassured her as I kept pushing her in the field. "All you have to do is swing the bat when you see Hanai throw the ball."

Tenma still had a pout on her face when she reached the home plate. I patted her shoulder and walked back behind the cage. Mikoto was hand signaling towards Hanai. He looked towards her as Mikoto signaled him to throw a slow ball. He then nodded his head in understanding and we turned our attention to Tenma.

She was standing there in position, ready to hit the ball. "Okay, I got this!"

"Here comes the ball Tsukamoto!" Hanai shouted as he lightly threw the ball.

The ball he threw was at a slower speed, sufficient enough for Tenma to hit. As the ball got closer to Tenma, she swung her bat and her whole body spun in circles. Unfortunately, the ball passed by and was caught in Harima's glove.

 _Strike One._

Tenma stopped spinning and looked confused. "Did I hit it!?"

Eri held her hand over her face, hiding the embarrassment for her friend. "You missed..." She said, a nervous sweat rolled down her face.

"It's okay Tenma, that's just the first strike, you got two more chances!" I shouted towards Tenma.

"Okay! Let's do this again!" Tenma shouted with confidence.

Hanai once again threw the ball at the same speed as Tenma swung her bat and spun in circles. The ball passed through her and landed on Harima's glove again.

 _Strike Two._

"Don't worry about it Tenma! This time, keep your eyes on the ball! That's when you'll know to swing!" Mikoto yelled over, sending advice towards our friend.

Without any response, Tenma gripped on her bat tightly and looked at Hanai with fire in her eyes. "Okay!"

"Here's we go again." Hanai said as he threw the ball towards Tenma.

The advice Mikoto gave Tenma seemed to slip off her mind as Tenma swung the bat before the ball even reached towards her. She spun around in circles for a third time as the ball flew past her and landed on Harima's glove.

 _Strike Three._

 _Strikeout._

"Hopeless." Eri said, smacking her palm to her face once again.

Mikoto let out a sigh but then changed to a smile. "At least we got three points so far. It's actually not bad."

I nodded my head in agreement. "You're right Mikoto."

"I'm not good at batting." Tenma whined as she looked at each of us with a pout on her face.

Akira stood next to Tenma and patted her back reassuringly. "There, there."

"Well, I guess it's our turn for defense. I'm going to pitch." Eri said as she grabbed a glove and slipped it on. "I think I'll get the hang of this. Received a few pointers from people here."

"Don't miss those throws." I jokingly said towards Eri.

She smirked towards me and let out a small laugh. "I won't."

With that, Eri stood at the pitcher's spot. Mikoto was covering first base, Tenma and I covered second base while Akira covered third base. Everyone else were covering the far left, right and center field to catch.

Mihara was the first from Team White to pitch. Eri took her stance and leaned far back with her arm. She then swung her arm and threw the ball underhand with a good amount of speed. The ball flew right past Mihara and landed on Nara's glove, whom was the catcher. Everyone on the field was amazed to see Eri's pitching skill as she continued to throw the next two pitches and struck out Mihara.

"Wow Eri. I guess those pointers you received were very effective." I said, giving her a thumbs up.

She used the back of her hand to wipe off some sweat on her forehead. "Well, if I'm going to be playing, then we must win. I don't like to lose."

I nervously grinned towards her as she prepped up her next pitch. _She sure is competitive._

"I'm next. Give me your best shot Sawachika." Hanai said as he stepped up and pointed his bat towards Eri.

"We'll see about that!" Eri said as she threw a curve-ball towards Hanai.

He hit the ball with ease as it made its way towards the left side of the field. The ball was near Akira's area and she gracefully caught the ball. "Out." She said nonchalantly.

"Nice catch Akira!" Tenma shouted in excitement.

Akira casually threw the ball back towards Eri as she looked at Tenma and nodded her head. "No problem." was all she said.

"Not bad Akira." Hanai said as he tossed the bat to Aso and walked off.

For the next couple minutes, each batter had their chance at hitting the ball. Most of the hits were coming towards Tenma and I but mainly Tenma's side. Each time she tried to catch the ball, she either miscalculates her catches or lets the ball hit her head.

 _Talk about being bad a sports...poor Tenma._

"Oh Sai!" Tenma started whining as she put her head on my shoulder. "Why am I so clumsy at sports!?"

I patted her head and stroked her hair to reassure her. "Don't worry Tenma. You'll get better each minute that passes by. You don't become a pro in an instant."

"But Eri seemed to be good since her first pitch." Tenma said.

"Then how about practicing on not sucking." Eri said bluntly.

Tenma shot her head up and looked at the blond. "That's mean Eri!"

Eri shrugged her shoulders. "What? I'm always blunt. That's who I am." She said as she narrowed her eyes.

Mikoto placed her palm to her face and let out a heavy sigh. "Let's just continue the game Tenma. Like Sai said, you'll get better sometime soon."

"I hope so." Tenma said as she let out frown.

* * *

Inning after inning, both teams scored a couple of points and we ended up being tied, 19-19. Tenma was still being a klutz on every position but we tried our best for her to stay positive.

It was our final inning of the game. Team Red were on defense while offense for Team White and the bases were loaded. Eri was still the pitcher but I was the catcher for this inning.

Harima stepped towards the Home plate. "Hello Harima." I greeted him with a smile.

"Hey there." He greeted back. "I guess now it's my turn to bat with you as catcher."

I felt my cheeks getting hot from Harima's comment. "Y-Yeah. Good luck."

"Don't need it." Harima said as he gets ready to swing the bat.

"Hige..." Eri said his nickname in disgust.

"Rich Girl." Harima responded back with his nickname for her.

Eri was getting ready to pitch until Imadori popped up in front of her. "Yo." He greeted.

"What are you doing here?" Eri questioned Imadori as she crossed her arms and glared at the guy.

Imadori held his hands behind his head and spoke calmly. "I just thought maybe I can give this pitch a try. You can cover first base."

"What? Isn't Tenma covering first base?" Eri questioned.

"Nope. She dropped out." He responded. He was pointing towards the benches and there, we see Tenma sitting there.

I stood up and lifted the helmet visor. "Tenma. You gave up?"

She waved towards me and let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah. I just thought you guys would be better off without me. Plus, If Imadori plays, there won't be any screw ups."

"Okay, if you say so Tenma." I said as I put the visor back on and squat back into position.

Imadori and Eri were still talking among each other. "She's right you know. Gotta get rid of the weaklings if you wanna win."

Being behind Harima, I noticed that his body tensed when Imadori said that comment. _Is Harima bothered by this? I wonder why..._

"Alright. You better pitch the winning throw." Eri said as she handed the ball to Imadori and ran to cover first base.

I looked at Harima and his body was still tense. "You alright Harima?" I asked him quietly.

"Peachy New Girl." He responded in an annoyed tone.

 _I do wonder what it was that made Harima react like this..._

"Okay! Here goes!" Imadori shouted as he threw the ball towards Harima.

I could hear a _'Tch'_ escape from Harima's mouth and he hit the ball with ease at such a strong force. After hearing a hard _'Whack_ ', the ball flew straight ahead and made it's way towards Imadori's face. In the end, the ball did hit Imadori's face as it knocked him to the ground.

"I-Imadori!" Ichijou was the first to react as she ran towards his aide.

Everyone else ran towards him to check on Imadori. He was laying on the ground, ball still stuck on his face and pale from the impact.

"Are you okay Imadori?" I asked as I kneel down next to Ichijou to check on him.

Imadori was silent at first but then whispered softly. "D...cup..."

"That idiot's alive." Mikoto said with a heavy sigh.

Nishimoto and Nara picked up Imadori and dragged him towards the benches. "Come now Imadori, everything will be okay." Nishimoto said. Ichijou followed behind to check on him.

I looked at Harima and he didn't seem to care that he hit the ball towards Imadori. "Oops." He said sarcastically, noticing that I was staring at him.

"Harima. You did that on purpose." I said, looking at the 'delinquent'.

He shrugged his shoulders and as walked back towards the Home plate. "I don't regret it." He said calmly.

"If you say so." I said with a heavy sigh.

We both looked at everyone else as they figured out what to do next. "So, whose's pitching now?" Akira asked.

"Let's asked the manager." Someone said.

With that, Karasuma appeared on the field with a tag that says, 'Manager' on his shirt.

"What!? Manager!?" Hanai questioned.

"When the heck did we get a manager in the first place!?" Mikoto yelled in confusion.

"Karasuma's the manager?" I asked myself quietly.

Karasuma raised his arm up as he blew the whistle. "We should let Tsukamoto be the pitcher." He suggested.

"What!?" Tenma yelled in shock. "I-I can't pitch!"

"Don't worry Tenma!" I yelled towards my friend. "You got this!"

Tenma looked around with a frown on her face. "I-I...I can't..." she said quietly.

Karasuma then walked up towards Tenma and placed his hands on her shoulder. "Miss Tsukamoto, you can do it. I believe in you."

From where I'm standing, I could tell Tenma was blushing. She then shook her head and nodded. "Okay. I'll do it."

"That's the spirit Tenma!" Mikoto cheered her on. "Win the game for us!"

"No screw up Tenma." Eri said as she eyed the girl.

Tenma's eyes lit up with determination. "I won't let you down Eri."

With that, everyone went back to their positions. Harima was no longer tense. He seemed a bit calmer now. Way too calm to be exact.

"Ready Harima?" Tenma called out to him.

"Born ready." Harima responded.

Bases are still loaded and it's only up to Tenma to strikeout Harima in order of us to leave the game with a tie.

"HERE WE GO!" Tenma shouted. She lift her leg up and raised her arm far back. Her pose was mimicking that of a professional as she threw a hardcore fastball. This surprised every one of us.

"Woah! Look at that fast ball!" Mikoto shouted.

"Yes! That's the winning pitch!" Eri cheered excitedly.

"Look at Tsukamoto!" Hanai shouted.

From where I was squatting, I eyed the ball as it made it way towards us. Just then Harima swung his bat to hit the ball, the ball disappeared.

"W-What?" Harima said, surprised by this.

"Where's the ball?" I questioned.

Just then, the ball reappeared and smacked Harima's face. "Ack!" Harima let out a yelp as he stumbled back a bit, standing close to me.

"H-Harima!" I called out his name.

The ball flew out from his face as Harima lost his balance and fell backwards.

"Wah!" I screamed as Harima's landed right on top of me. His face was really close to mine even though I still have the helmet on.

I could feel my face flushing like crazy. It's either from the close distances of our faces or the fact that I'm being crushed by a guy whose a lot heavier than I am.

"I-It's a foul! The ball hit the batter! It's a walk and that's the game!" Fuyuki said, ending the game while everyone ran towards the two of us.

"Sai! You alright?" Mikoto asked, concerned for me.

"Can't...breathe..." I spoke slowly, trying not to die.

"Take some deep breaths." Akira said, trying to help me out.

"Can we have some guys move him please!? Sai's being crushed!" Eri yelled for everyone to hear.

Hanai, Suga and Aso ran towards me and the now unconscious Harima. "We'll save you Ishikawa!" Hanai shouted. They managed to move Harima away as I caught my breath.

"You okay Sai?" Suga asked as he held out his hand. Still panting, I grabbed his hand and Suga helped me up. "I'm alright. Thanks for helping me up Suga." I responded with a friendly smile.

"Oh man! We thought Harima was going to crush you to death!" Yoshidayama said.

I laughed from Yoshidayama's comment. "Well, I'm alive."

"Thank goodness. This wouldn't have happened if Tenma didn't SCREW UP!" Eri yelled as she grabbed Tenma and started shaking her violently. "WE LOST THE GAME!"

"I'm sorry!" Tenma shouted. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

While Eri continued to yell at Tenma, I kneel down in front of Harima and poked him. "Should we wake him up?" I asked the others.

"I don't think it's wise. He might kill us." Nishimoto said.

"That might be true. What should we do?" Nara asked.

Imadori walked up with a swollen cheek. "Leave him to die! He hit my face!"

"It's your fault for being Harima's pitcher." Mikoto said, crossing her arms.

"Well, next time we play, I'll just have yours and Sai's D-cups to protect me!" Imadori said as he went back to being his normal self.

Mikoto proceed to hit Imadori's head as she pointed her fist towards him. "NO WAY IN HELL!"

"Are we done for the day?" Akira asked.

"Yes, we are. You can all go home." Hanai said.

"Well, you heard the guy, let's all change and go home." Mikoto said.

"Great! I captured some awesome pictures for our yearbook!" Fuyuki shouted as he flipped through his camera photos.

I was still kneeling as I looked back at the sleeping Harima. "What about Harima? Shouldn't we take him to the infirmary?" I was feeling worried for Harima. I placed my hand over his. My heart pounded a bit rapid from doing this.

 _I do hope he's okay though._

Hanai placed a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry Ishikawa. I'll take him there. You can just go home. It is my duty as Class Representative to ensure that Harima is alive and well."

"Oh. Okay then." I said as I move my hand away from Harima's. I initially blushed from the fact that I touched Harima's hand.

With that, Hanai held Harima over his shoulders and brought him to the infirmary. The girls and I made our way back towards the locker room and changed back to our uniforms. Eri was still scolding Tenma about the loss while Mikoto and Akira tried to reassure them.

I didn't really pay attention to their conversation as I was lost in my thoughts.

 _I'm starting to feel weird about Harima. I feel bad that he got knocked unconscious from Tenma's pitch. Yet, it made me feel very nervous when he landed on top of me. His face was really close to mine. Good thing I had that visor to cover my flushed face or else everyone else would've seen it._

"Earth to Sai." Eri called out to me.

"Hm?" I looked at her, shaking the thoughts from my head.

"You okay? You spaced out." Mikoto said.

I nod my head and smiled towards the girls. "I'm alright."

* * *

After we finished changing our clothes, we headed towards the shoe lockers to exchange shoes. As we were getting ready to leave school, we noticed that it was raining pretty heavy outside.

"Rain? Wasn't it sunny just a minute ago?" Eri said with a frown.

"Bummer." Mikoto said. "Did you bring an umbrella?" She asked Eri.

"No. I didn't." Eri said, still frowning.

Mikoto took out an umbrella from her bag. "Don't worry, you can share with me."

"Thanks." Eri said with a small smile. "What about you Akira?"

Akira didn't say anything and took out her umbrella. She then opened it and looked at the two.

I looked behind and noticed that Tenma wasn't with us. "Hey ladies, where did Tenma go?"

"Huh? She disappeared on us?" Mikoto asked, looking at the vacant spot next to me.

Eri took out her phone and flipped through a message she just received. "She texted me. She wants us to go home without her. She has something to take care of."

"I bet you she forgot to bring an umbrella." Mikoto said with a sigh.

"Nope. She got one." Akira said.

"Eh? How do you know?" I asked.

"I just know." Akira answered as she started to walk away.

Mikoto and Eri followed along but then stopped their tracks and turned towards me. "What about you Sai? Where's your umbrella?" Eri asked.

I looked at the girls and blinked nervously. "Uh..well. I left my umbrella in my desk back at the classroom. I'm gonna head up there to retrieve it."

"Wants us to wait up for you?" Mikoto asked.

"Ah! N-No. You ladies can head home without me as well. I need to stop by the faculty office anyways. Need to ask Mr. Tani something." I said nervously.

"Well, if you say so. I guess we'll see you tomorrow." Mikoto said.

"Later." Akira waved as she began walking.

"Bye Eri. Get home safe okay?" Eri said.

I waved back at the three. "I will. See you tomorrow ladies!"

With that, the three of them walked away as I turned around and walked down the halls. To be honest, I'm actually going to the infirmary. My umbrella is actually in my bag all along. I made up going back to the classroom and seeing Mr. Tani as an excuse to see Harima.

 _If I told the girls that I actually want to see Harima, they might tease me like how they teased about me and Suga. Sorry for lying to you ladies...but it's the only way. I want to make sure that Harima is okay._

I stood in front of the infirmary room. I could feel my heart beating fast from nervousness. My hand slowly reached the door knob until it suddenly opened on it's own. Actually, the door opened and someone came out from the room. It turned out to be Harima.

My face flushed instantly. "H-Hi Harima..."

He stopped short and stared back at me in surprise. "Oh. Hey New Girl. What's up?"

I held my fingers together and looked at him nervously. "H-How's your face? That fastball Tenma threw hit you pretty hard." Looking at his face, he had a big band-aid on his cheek.

"Oh this?" He pointed at his face, "It's nothing. I've taken harder hits than this. It's no biggie really." He moved his hand away and placed it in his pant pockets. "By the way, when I came to, that annoying class rep told me that I fell on top of you." He then moved his hand out of the pocket and held the back of his neck. "I'm...sorry about that. I didn't mean to crash on you."

I could feel my cheeks getting hot and my heart beating a bit fast. "O-Oh! No need to worry about me! I was more concerned for you..."

"Ha. That's funny." Harima spoke, "No one's ever bothered to worry about me."

I looked at him with eyes wide. "Really? Why?" I questioned.

"That's because I'm a delinquent." He answered as he started to walk away.

 _That's sad. Does Harima not have any friends here? Everyone calls him a delinquent and all but I've never really seen anyone hold up a decent conversation with him._

"Um...Harima?" I called out to him. He stopped moving and turned to look at me. "Yeah?"

I walked up to him and stood in front of him. "I-I don't really care if you're a delinquent." I started speaking, heart pounding from shyness as I tried making eye contact with him. "I want to be your friend Harima...You're a really interesting person. I want to get to know you more..."

Looking at Harima, I could tell he seemed surprise. "I see." He said, trying not to feel shy.

"So, wanna be friends Harima?" I asked him with a bright smile. I held my hand out, asking for a handshake. He held his hand out and shook it. "Sure, why not. I'll be your friend."

My smile grew wider as my cheeks grew hotter. "Cool."

Harima let go and placed his hands back in his pocket. He then looked out the window and realized that rainy weather. "Crap. It's raining."

 _Sounds like he doesn't have an umbrella. Maybe I can share with him..._

"If you want, we could share my umbrella. I can walk you home so that you wouldn't get wet." I said, grabbing my umbrella from my bag.

"It's fine. I can walk home without one." He said.

I held my umbrella close to me, shaking my head. "I insist Harima. I wouldn't want you to catch a cold from the heavy rain."

Harima looked at me through his shades and finally responded. "Alright then. But let me walk you home instead. I can manage on my own afterwards."

"Oh. Are you sure?" I questioned.

"Like I said, I'll be fine. Might as well walk you home to make sure you're safe. It's getting late anyways." He said as he cleared his throat.

I couldn't help but to blush. _How kind of him...This is something you don't see Harima do in front of the entire class._

"Okay, let's go then." I said as I opened the umbrella when we reached outside of school. Luckily, my umbrella was big enough to hold two people under.

"Do you live far?" Harima asked.

"Not really. My apartment is just a twenty minute walk from here." I answered.

"Alright. Let's get moving." He said.

With that, we walked in silence under the rain for the first ten minutes.

 _I don't know what to say! I'm already nervous being under the same umbrella with Harima. Plus, we're walking home alone, together!_

 _"_ So..H-Harima..." I started speaking, trying to break the ice. I looked to my right when he didn't respond and noticed that he was spaced out. "Harima?" I called his name again but he was still spaced out. "Harima.." I said a third time and poked his shoulder.

"Huh? Yeah?" Harima said, snapping back to reality.

"I-I realized that you seem to be spaced out a lot. What do you think about?" I questioned him.

He seemed nervous when I asked my question. "Oh, it's nothing important."

"Oh, I see." I said. I then took a deep breath and asked my next question. "Well, can I know why you chose to become a delinquent?"

Harima lightly stroked his beard as if he was thinking. "I guess I have no particular reason. I just chose to become one."

"But...don't you know the things people say about you at school?" I asked, concerned whether or not Harima knows.

"You mean them wondering why I still bother showing up for school?" He questioned.

I looked at him with a nervous smile. "S-Something like that I guess..."

"There is a reason to why I stay in school. But that reason is a secret." He said.

"It's okay. I won't ask if you're not comfortable telling." I said, smiling at the fact that Harima's talking to me.

After a couple more minutes, we finally reached the outside of my apartment. "We're here." I said towards my friend.

"I guess we are." He said.

It was still raining pretty hard and I have no clue where Harima lives. _Maybe I should let him borrow mine for now, he'll get soaked if he walked home without an umbrella._

"Hey, Harima?" I called out to him.

"Yeah?" He looked at me.

I shoved my umbrella towards him as he unconsciously grabbed it from me. "You can borrow my umbrella. It's still raining pretty heavy so use it until you get home. You can give it back to me whenever." I said, smiling towards him.

"Oh. Uh...thanks." He said quietly.

"Well, I'll see you in school tomorrow. Bye!" I said and waved at Harima.

With that, I quickly ran inside my apartment. I took a long shower, dried myself and laid down on my bed.

 _I don't know why, but I feel really happy that Harima is my friend. It's nice to finally get him to talk to me more. There's something about him that catches my interest. I'm not sure why but maybe I'll find out in the future. As of right now, I'll just let this be a secret from the girls for now. Wouldn't want them to know...yet._


	8. Harima and the Hospital

"Great. Cleaning duty. Totally forgot that we had to clean today." Mikoto said with a sarcastic sigh.

Class 2-C were volunteered by Hanai to clean the classroom without our consent. So, the girls and I each had a broom in hand and swept the floor while conversing.

"Well, I think this is fun." I said, enjoying the cleaning activity.

Eri stopped sweeping and raised an eyebrow towards me. "You call this fun? I call this slave work." She said, feeling agitated by this. _I guess she's not use to cleaning since she is rich..._

"Lighten up Eri. I think it's fun because we can to clean as a group. Plus, it gives us more time to chat with each other." I said with a slight chuckle.

"I guess you're right Sai. It beats going straight home with nothing to do." Mikoto said as she held the broom in place and leaned on it.

"Let's go to the cafe for cake and tea after we're done cleaning." Akira suggested, not taking her eyes off the floor she's sweeping.

"Oh! Sounds like a perfect plan!" I said with excitement.

"Yeah. The five of us definitely deserve some tea time." Eri added.

Mikoto didn't say anything but instead, examined the classroom. "You guys..." she started speaking. "Where's Tenma?"

Akira, Eri and I stopped sweeping and followed Mikoto's gaze around the classroom. We could see all our other classmates but Tenma was nowhere to be seen. "Did she ditch us and went straight home?" Eri asked, feeling annoyed.

"Hm? If I recall, I did hear Tenma mentioning something about a re-run special on _Three for the Kill._ " Akira said, placing a finger to her chin.

Mikoto let out a sigh and shook her head. "Of course. It's her favorite show. She'll do anything to watch it. Even if it means skipping out on cleaning duty."

I shrugged my shoulders and continued sweeping. "Well, at least we don't have to worry about the silly girl anymore." I said with a smile.

Everyone else nodded their heads and continued cleaning. After a few minutes of silence, Eri stopped her actions and pointed at a person on the opposite side of the classroom. "Look at that girls." We eyed at the person and noticed she was pointing at Harima. "What is that Hige doing here?"

I let out a slight blush at the sight of him. _What is he doing? I know he has a reason to stay in school, but I didn't expect him to stay for cleaning duty. Did something made him want to stay?_

"Woah. I can't believe Harima is here cleaning." Mikoto said in amazement.

"Never expected that." Akira said cooly.

Most of the students eyed Harima as well. Harima on the other was oblivious to the stares, he seemed to be spaced out as usual. It really feels as if anything coming from him would be like a rare exhibit to see. It's really strange...

"You know, maybe Harima doesn't have anything better to do." I said, trying not to make it obvious that I was trying to defend for the delinquent's decision to stay.

"It's funny how Hige stayed and Tenma ditched us." Eri said as she looked away and continued sweeping the floor.

Everyone else looked away and continued their cleaning duty. I was the only person still looking at Harima. He seemed to snap out of his daze and quickly made eye contact with me.

With my face flushed, I quickly turned my gaze away and stared at the ground. I then gripped on my broom stick tightly and swept the floor viciously. _Oh crap. He caught me staring at him. Does he think I'm weird now?_

After a few more minutes of utter silence, except for the orchestra sounds of brooms sweeping the floor, I heard footsteaps approaching us. Akira was the first one to notice the figure stopping in front of us. "Hm?" was the only thing that escaped her mouth.

Eri and Mikoto stopped what they were doing and tried their best not to make their jaws drop. I looked at them in confusion and then turned around. There, Harima was standing in front of me.

"Hey, New Girl." Harima spoke up. _He still calling me 'New Girl' huh? I kind of like the nickname he's given me._

Ignoring the weird stares I'm receiving from my friends and classmates, I smiled towards Harima. "Hey there Harima. What's up?"

He reached into his pocket and took something out. "Here." My umbrella was on his hand and he tossed it to me. I was caught off guard from this and had it jumbled around before I finally caught it. "Thanks for letting me borrow it the other day. Sorry I couldn't have given it back sooner."

I could feel my face flushing once again. _I felt a tingle in my chest. I don't know why but it's nice of Harima to return my umbrella. Even if it took a few days for him to do it though._ "Don't worry about that Harima." was the only thing I said as my response.

"Well, see you later." He said, putting his broom down and walked out of the classroom.

Eyes were still staring at me. I could feel some sort of tension behind me as I slowly turned around to see the girls eyeing me with curious looks. I smiled nervously, trying to think about what to say. _What do I say? What do I say? What do I say!? Will they even believe me if I told them that I only want to be friends with Harima? I know they're going to tease me for sure!_ "I-I...I can explain ladies."

Eri was the first to close her jaw and speak up. "What were-"

"GIRLS! BOY AM I GLAD TO SEE YOU ALL AGAIN!" Tenma screamed into the classroom, cutting off Eri. She ran towards us and gathered us in a bear hug. Confusion swarmed all over my face as we stared at the now crazy girl.

"Did something happen to you Tenma?" I questioned her.

"Yeah. We thought you went home." Mikoto added.

Tenma let go of us and looked at us with watery eyes. "Yeah! I was trapped in the equipment room!"

"The equipment room?" Akira questioned.

"What were you doing there?" Eri asked, still giving Tenma an odd look.

"I was putting the gym equipment away in the room until I heard someone closed the door and locked it! I spent the past however long trying to reopen that door! I thought I was going to die in there!" Tenma yelled out.

I was shocked to hear that from Tenma." What? You got locked in?"

"Yes!" She yelped. "I was thirsty and hungry! I really thought I would spend the rest of my life in there!" She then grabbed Mikoto's shoulders and started shaking her as she kept talking. "It was dark and scary in there! Really felt like forever! Thank goodness somebody actually heard me screaming and opened the door for me! How many years went by girls!?"

The four of us continued to look at Tenma as if she's completely gone crazy. "Tenma, you were only gone for an hour." Mikoto said, lightly patting the crying girl.

"What!? An hour!?" Tenma screamed in shock. "But it felt longer..."

Eri shook her head and crossed her arms. "Honestly, I don't know what kind of weird situations you've been getting yourself into." She then let out a sigh. "No matter, at least you're safe now."

Tenma took some deep breaths to calm herself. "Yeah. I'm so relieved now."

"Now that the five of us are here, let's go to the cafe." Akira said.

I smiled and nodded my head. "Yes, let's go."

* * *

The girls and I put the brooms away and grabbed our bags, we changed our shoes at the show locker and made our way towards the Cafe. We each sat down at a booth and ordered our drinks and desserts. After a couple minutes of laughter and chatter, Mikoto's face lit up as if she thought of something interesting.

"You know, that reminds me, we didn't get to interrogate Sai since Tenma interrupted us." Mikoto said, turning her attention towards me.

My body tensed up as I put a spoonful of pudding in my mouth. My cheeks turned rosy again as I took the spoon out and swallowed hard. _Oh man. I was hoping they'd forget. I guess this was eventually going to happen. No use on wishing they're forget the events during cleaning duty ever happened._

Tenma looked back and forth between Mikoto and I. "Hm? I interrupted something? What happened?" She asked curiously.

Eri set down her cup of tea and smirked towards Tenma. "It seems our 'New Girl' shared an umbrella with Hige the other day." She said teasingly, eyeing my nervous self.

I held my hands together as my face started to feel warm. My heart was pumping where it felt like it would rip out of my chest and run away.

"WHAAAT!?" Tenma screamed in disbelief. Akira covered her mouth and 'shushed' her since we were in a public area. "When did you share your umbrella with him!? How come we didn't know?" She whispered loudly.

"I would like to know as well." Mikoto asked, crossing her arms.

I grabbed my spoon and started playing with my pudding. I scooped up a small chunk and stuffed it in my mouth. "Hm...well..." I started speaking. "It was the day of our softball game." I swallowed my pudding. "Instead of seeing Mr. Tani, I actually went to the infirmary to check on Harima." I fessed up the truth. "He didn't have an umbrella on him so I offered to share mine with him. That's all."

"Hm. How interesting." Akira said, sipping her cup of tea.

"Woah! I'd never expect that." Mikoto winked at me.

"Never knew Hige would do something like that. Let alone do something like this with a girl." Eri said, eyes closed and arms crossed.

"Do you like Harima!?" Tenma blurted out with joy and excitement.

I froze and felt my eyes widened. "W-What?" I panicked. _Why would she ask a question like that!?_ "N-No!" My face flushed slightly. _I don't even know if I'm telling the truth!_

"She's blushing." Akira said, pointing out the redness on my cheeks.

"Seems to me you do." Eri said, eyeing me cautiously.

"You must like him Sai!" Tenma shouted. "There is no way anyone would do something like that with Harima and NOT like him!"

I held my hands up to defend myself. "I-I don't!" I semi-lied. _I'm still unsure of my feelings._ "I was just being kind and offered to help him. I wouldn't want him to go home drenched in the heavy rain. Wouldn't you ladies do the same for him?"

My friends looked at each other and then back at me. "No." Was all they said in unison. My eyes widened from their response. "Why no?" I questioned.

Eri moved closer to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Hon. That Hige is not the type of person anyone wants to be friends with. He's like a lone wolf. He doesn't really let anyone talk to me. I myself am surprised that Hige would let you do such a thing."

I was pretty shocked to hear that from Eri. _Am I the first person to actually show acts of kindness towards Harima?_

"You know.." Tenma spoke up, placing a finger to her chin, "I really think Sai is the only person who actually talks to Harima. I don't think we've ever seen anyone else in class trying to talk to him. We usually leave him alone."

"Eh? Really?" I questioned. _I guess what Tenma just said answered my question..._

"Yeah. Especially since you walked home with him and shared an umbrella with him!" She teased, making kissing, lovely dovey noises towards me.

I started blushing from embarrassment and groaned. _Why..._

"Who knows, maybe Harima might have a crush on the " _New Girl_.'" Mikoto said, emphasizing on the nickname Harima gave me.

 _WHY!?..._

Eri chuckled from this and gave me a mischievous look. "Who would've thought Hige, the lone wolf, would know how love feels."

"Argh." I sighed in defeat and placed my hands on my forehead to hide more embarrassment. "I just wanted to be friends with Harima. Is that a problem?" I said to them with a frown.

"Of course it's not a problem. We were just teasing you Hun." Eri said with a reassuring smile, probably feeling slightly guilty about the teasing.

Mikoto gave me an apologetic smile. "Sorry Eri. It was fun teasing you about Suga but maybe we've probably gone too far about Harima." She then gave me a reassuring smile. "Lighten up though. We don't see a problem in being friends with him. Heck, its actually nice to see Harima being friendly with someone."

"Yeah Sai!" Tenma said, walking behind me and patting my back. "I approve of your friendship with Harima!" She then gave me a thumbs up as she walked back to her seat.

Akira stayed silent but nodded her head in agreement with the ladies.

Letting out another heavy sigh, I then looked at the ladies with a pout on my face. "Okay."

* * *

We finished up the rest of our snacks and paid for the bill. After that was over, Mikoto, Eri and Akira went home one way while Tenma and I headed the other way.

The two of us were roaming down the crowded streets in silence until Tenma broke the ice. "So Sai." She began speaking. I turned to my right and looked at my friend. "Hm?"

She turned left to make eye contact with me. "What made you want to be friends with Harima?" She questioned.

"Huh?" I looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well...I mean...I know you're a really nice person and you'd like to be friends with everyone...but...was there something about him that caught your interest?" She asked, not joking around.

I stared at her dumbfounded. Tenma can be a gullible person, but she sure does that smart questions when it comes to a situation like this. "You can say something like that." I placed my hands behind my back and held my hands. "I do find Harima to be an interesting character but I don't know what it is about him that catches me."

"I see! How cute Sai!" She said with a bright smile and her tiny pigtails perked up. "I wish I have the same hospitality as you!"

I couldn't help but to laugh at her statement. _Such a silly girl she is...I appreciate being friends with her._

We stepped at the street threshold, waiting for the red light to turn. Tenma and I stood there, watching each car passing by until we noticed something from a far distance that caught our attention.

"Hey look!" Tenma raised her voice as she pointed at a figure from a distance. "It's Harima!"

The thing that caught our attention was Harima, riding his motorbike, driving down the steep road at rapid speed. Along with that, I noticed that a truck pulled up onto the road from the intersection just up ahead. With the amount of speed Harima is driving, he'll eventually clash into that truck and hurt himself!

"He's going to T-bone that truck!" I shouted, pointing at the truck. I could feel my hand shaking in fear of Harima's possible outcome.

Tenma gasped at the sudden realization. The both of us could see Harima shouting something towards us but he was too far for us to hear. "Harima!" Tenma shouted his name. "Look out for that tru-"

She didn't get a chance to finish her warning because Harima noticed the incoming truck at the last second. Instead of crashing into it, Harima swerved a hard left and his motorbike slid a couple feet. Losing the momentum, Harima let go of the bike and landed on the ground.

My hand covered my mouth the entire time. I was in utter shock at what we just witnessed. _Harima just avoided a possible terrible accident!_ "H-Harima!" I shouted his name. Tenma and I looked both ways before rushing to his aid. I kneel next to him and cautiously remove his helmet to check for injuries. So far, I only noticed scratches on his face and arms. The only serious thing I see is a bump on his forehead.

"Is Harima alright!?" Tenma asked. I didn't respond to her question as I whipped out my cellular phone and called an ambulance. I told the operator the events that happened and our location. The medics arrived and carried him away. We were then told that Harima would be taken to Yagami Hospital. Luckily, he wasn't seriously hurt so the medics mentioned that he should be awake within an hour or so.

Tenma and I were in disbelief at what just happened. Feeling worried, we both agreed to buy some flowers and visit him immediately to check up on him. _I really do hope he's alright. This is the second time I see Harima get hurt and the first time was an accident but this is just crazy!_ I could feel my heart beating rapidly at the thought of Harima. _Maybe I'm just worried about him. I'm relieved that he managed to avoid an even worse accident. Or else that would've been really, really bad._

I phone my parents to notify them that I'd be home a bit later. With the flowers in my hand, Tenma and I reached Yagami Hospital and was led to one of the rooms Harima was in. Tenma knocked on the door and slowly opened it when we heard a voice. There, we see Harima sitting up on the bed and Ms. Itoko sitting on a chair, reading a book.

 _Why is Ms. Itoko visiting Harima? Was she his emergency contact? How strange..._

"Hey Harima! Sai and I were worried and we came straight here to see you!" Tenma shouted in joy to see Harima doing well.

"How nice of you girls to come here and see him." Ms. Itoko said, closing her book and getting up from her seat.

I looked at Ms. Itoko, still confused as to why she's here visiting Harima. Not that I have a problem with it, I just find it weird and out of random. "Hello Ms. Itoko. I didn't know you were coming in to visit Harima."

She looked at me blankly but then gave a smile. "Well, I guess you can say something like that."

I cocked my head in confusion but I let it go. _There might've been a reason as to why Ms. Itoko is here but I'll just leave that alone._

"How are you feeling Harima?" Tenma asked as the both of us approached the bed.

Harima still had those shades of his on, in which I have no clue how or why they're still on his face. His facial expression was a bit weird but he seemed nervous towards the two of us. "Uh..I-I'm fine..." He spoke quietly.

I let out a sigh of relief. _I'm still glad he's okay._ "We were worried about you when we saw you skid across the ground. You're lucky I didn't find anything critical from the aftermath." I said, looking at him with concern.

He didn't bother to look at me. His eyes were lowered, transfixed on his bed. "Yeah. Thanks for taking care of me before the ambulance arrived. I guess I am lucky. The only thing I have is a headache from this."

"You should be more careful Harima." Tenma said, scolding him slightly. He still seemed a bit nervous since he didn't respond and only nod his head.

"Oh? I see you ladies brought some flowers." Ms. Itoko spoke, noticed the bouquet with me.

I held them out and smiled, "Yes. We brought it as a 'Get Well' gift for Harima."

Harima finally looked up and made eye contact with me. "T-Thanks..." I could feel my cheeks feeling hot as I looked away nervously. "N-No problem..." I said quietly.

"Here, why don't I take them off your hands and place them in a vase." Ms. Itoko said as she grabbed the bouquet from me and left the room to tend the flowers.

"Oh! That reminds me..." Tenma said as she reached for something in her bag. "I brought some tea bags. Would you like some tea Harima?" She asked him.

He gave Tenma a blank stare but then nodded his head. "What about you Sai? Want some tea?" Tenma asked. I raised an eyebrow towards Harima but then nod my as well towards Tenma. "Sure, I'd like some. Thanks."

Tenma picked up the kettle and looked inside it. "Oh. There's no more water in this pot. I'll go refill it. I'll be back." She said as she stepped out of the room. Now, it was just me and Harima alone.

I could hear my own heart beat since it was silent here. I fiddled my fingers from nervousness. _Should I try and make small talk with him? I'm starting to feel awkward with the two of us staying silent..._

"How are you feeling Harima?" I asked him, sitting on the chair Ms. Itoko was seated before.

"I'm feeling better. Still have a headache though." He responded.

"Oh. Well, I'm still relieved you had no serious injury. I was really worried about you, you know." I said giving him a small smile.

He raised an eyebrow and looked at me. "You sure are one heck of a friend. I wouldn't think you'd come visit." He said nonchalantly. I don't know why, but I felt sad hearing that from him.

"Of course I'd come and visit. Tenma and I witnessed you go through that! Plus, It would be extremely rude if we didn't come visit you. We wanted to make sure that you're alright. That's what friends are for." I said, giving him another smile.

"I see..." Harima said. "Thank you for caring..."

I felt my cheeks getting flushed. My heart skipped a beat. Palms began to sweat. _What is with these feelings? It's definitely different from when I first met Suga. These weird feelings feels a lot stronger._

"Okay you two, I'm back!" Tenma said cheerfully as she entered the room. She held the kettle of hot water and set it on the table next to me. There was a tray of cups and she poured the tea in each cup. I had a scarf on the entire time and took it off so tea wouldn't spill on it. I placed my scarf behind me on the chair so I wouldn't forget.

 _"_ Here's your tea Harima." Tenma said as she handed him a cup.

"Oh...Thanks...I...Uh...I love black tea..." Harima said, stuttering his words.

I raised an eyebrow towards him. _What's with this sudden change of attitude? He's all jumpy and nervous all of a sudden. Did he hit his head really hard that caused him to act this weird?_

The three of us spent the next couple minutes drinking tea and listening to Tenma blabber her mouth about random things. After I took my last sip of tea, I looked at the clock and checked the time. It was close to 5pm.

"Tenma, it's almost five." I told her.

She looked at the clock and widened her eyes. "Oh gosh! Look at the time! It's getting late!" She yelled.

Harima eyed the clock as well and then put his cup of tea down. "I guess it already is. You two should head home before it gets dark."

I placed the empty cup back on the tray and picked up my bag. "Yeah, you're right. We should get going Tenma." I spoke to my friend.

"Okay. Well, it was nice to know you're okay Harima. We'll see you at school on Monday." Tenma said.

"Yeah. Feel better and rest up for the weekend." I said, waving at Harima.

He still had a weird look on his face when he spoke, "Uh...Yeah...b-bye."

With that, Tenma and I made our way out of the hospital. As soon as we passed through the entrance gate, I realized that I left my scarf on the chair in Harima's room. "Oh no!" I shrieked.

"Eh? Something wrong Sai?" Tenma asked, looking at me in confusion.

I touched the void area around my neck. "I left my scarf in Harima's room. I need to head back and retrieve it."

"Want me to accompany you?" She offered. I shook my head. "No it's fine. You just go home without me. It's getting late and Yakumo must be getting worried."

"Oh, you're probably right Sai. I haven't told Yakumo where I would be." She said, worried about how Yakumo is feeling. "Alright. I'll see you later Sai." Tenma waved and walked away while I turned around and ran back into the hospital.

I hoped into one of the elevators and bumped into Ms. Itoko. "Oh Hello Sai. I thought you left. Did you need something?" She asked.

"Yeah..I left my scarf in Harima's room. I came back to get it." I told her.

Ms. Itoko was holding onto a medium sized vase with the flowers Tenma and I bought. "I see. Let's head back together than. I finally found a vase for the flowers. This hospital didn't have a good size so I had to run out and buy one."

We reached our floor and exited out of the elevator. Ms. Itoko and I walked down the hallway and reached to his room. "You can go in first." Ms. Itoko said, moving aside to let me in first.

"Oh. Thank you Ms. Itoko." I said, smiling at her as I slowly opened the door. I stepped into Harima's room and spoke without paying any attention to my surroundings. "Sorry Harima! I left my scarf here and I came back to get it!"

Instead of getting a response from the injured boy, I was surprised with a sudden hug from Harima. He jumped on me and wrapped his arms around my body. I immediately blushed from this sudden action. I could feel his body heat. He was extremely warm.

Harima then whispered something in my ear. "I love you." He said softly yet meaningful.

 _I love you..._

My face flushed even more at those words.

Harima let go of me and we made eye contact. His facial expression changed drastically as I could suddenly see him freaking out. We were both speechless.

 _Did Harima just confess to me? He loves me? Did I hear that right? He really told me he loves me. Were the girls correct? Did Harima actually fall in love with me!?_

My thoughts were swarmed with questions and I could feel my heart beating rapidly. It literally felt like it was going to jump out of my chest! My face was probably even more flushed and I could tell I was showing obvious signs of blushing!

"Uh..." "Um..." We both stayed speechless.

Ms. Itoko was the only one to break off the awkwardness. "Now, now Harima." She stepped in and grabbed Harima's shoulders. "I think that bump on your head has made you crazy." She then began to lightly push him back onto the bed. "I'm so sorry about this Sai. Go on and grab your scarf. I'll call the doctor to give Harima some medicine. He's just being delusional. That's all." She said, giving me an apologetic smile.

I snapped back and shook my head. I quickly ran towards the chair and picked up my scarf. My cheeks were still red and I could still feel my heart beating rapidly. "O-okay." I stuttered. "I-I'll see you in s-school on Monday H-Harima! B-Bye! Feel b-better!"

I ran straight home and went to my room. I flopped on my bed and held a hand over my chest. My heart was still skipping beats non-stop.

 _Just what the heck happened!? First, Harima jumped me and hugs me, then he goes on and confess his love for me!? Is this what happens from wanting to be friends with him!? What did I do that caused him to fall in love with me!? Why do I feel so shy and embarrassed? My heart seriously won't stop it's rapid beats..._

I sat up on my bed and hugged my pillow tightly. The tingly feeling wouldn't leave my chest and cheeks. This is seriously something different and I've experienced this feeling before.

 _Could it possibly be, that I myself am falling in love with Harima as well? Could that be the answer to the mixed feelings I've been having?_


	9. Pool Game

The weekend went by extremely fast. It's already a school day and I've been thinking about what Harima said to me non-stop! Since Harima's injuries were not serious, he showed up for school. I've been avoiding eye contact with him as well as trying my best not to look at his back even though he sits right in front of me!

I'm just going through my normal school day, pretending like nothing ever happened but it's just too hard!

 _I love you._

 _I love you..._

 _I love you..._

Just hearing him saying that kept replaying over and over in my head! _It's really hard to concentrate when the guy who sits right in front of you confessed his love to you! Worse of all, I myself am having feelings for him! Let alone begin to fall in love with the guy!_

I left that hospital speechless. _Am I supposed to respond to his confession? What do I say?_

"Hey Sai!" Tenma called out to me. I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to look at my friend. "You ready for pool cleaning?"

I blinked at her and gave out a confused look. "Eh? Pool cleaning?" I questioned.

"Were you daydreaming again?" Eri asked as her, Mikoto and Akira walked up to the two of us. I looked away shyly, guilty of my daydreaming habits today.

"That's like the umpteenth time today that you day dreamed. Did something happen to you that we don't know of?" Mikoto questioned, peering down to my eye level.

I jumped a bit, startled by her closeness and tried my best to hide the blush that's starting to form. _I can't let them know! They'll definitely question me and Harima!_

"N-No!" I started speaking. "I-I was just thinking about my family!" I sputtered out a lie.

"Is your family okay?" Akira asked.

I nodded my head, reassuring the concerned looks I was starting to get from the girls. "Yeah! Everything is good with my family. I was just thinking about places where we can move. My parents mentioned on wanting to move closer to the restaurant so it'd be easier for my Father to travel." I answered Akira's question, giving them a nervous smile, hoping they'd buy this lie that I just concocted.

"Oh? That's been on your mind all day?" Mikoto questioned, seeming a bit suspicious on my lie. She then placed her finger to her chin and looked up. "I guess moving will make someone ponder all day long."

"Have you thought of where to move yet?" Tenma asked.

I shook my head and gave out a sheepish grin. "Nope. Still looking around."

"Don't worry. I'm sure you and your family will find a new home." Eri said with a smile.

I smiled back at her. "Thanks ladies."

Mikoto let out a yawn and placed her arms on the back of her neck. "Alright girls. We should hurry and head to the pool. If Hanai sees that we're the last ones to show, he'll get on our backs."

We all nodded our heads and left the classroom. Mikoto was right, we were the last ones to head there since everyone else already made their way towards the locker room. The girls and I began changing to our gym uniform for our cleaning duty.

"You know, of all classes, why is our class stuck cleaning the pool? We just cleaned the classroom last week." Eri whined.

"Hanai volunteered our class to do it." Akira said, putting on her shirt.

I let out a sigh. "Class rep volunteering us without our consents again?" I said jokingly.

"Something to do with impressing a girl he likes." Akira answered. Judging from the tone of her voice, it seemed like she was hiding some little information to that statement.

"Huh? Hanai likes someone? Who is it!?" Tenma asked, shocked and curious.

Mikoto blew raspberry with her lips and scoffed. "I didn't even know Hanai has feelings for anyone. He's always a workaholic."

"Aren't the two of you childhood friends or something?" Eri questioned.

"Well yeah..." Mikoto answered quietly.

I looked at Mikoto, surprised to hear this new fact about her. "Eh? I didn't know you and Hanai were that close."

Her face flushed for a brief second but then waved off on the statement. "Nah. We're not that close. We've only known each other for so long because Hanai and I grew up training at the Martial Arts dojo together. That's all."

"Oh. I see."

Once we were done changing, the girls and I head to the pool and joined with the rest of our classmates. We were all standing around, chatting and laughing until Hanai stood near the pool side with a sponge mop in hand.

"Alright everyone! I, Haruki Hanai, your Class Representative has volunteered us to clean the pool today! Let's make it as clean as possible!" Hanai announced as he pointed towards a bucket of sponge mops and soap bars.

Some of the guys in class boo-ed at Hanai and grumbled about him wasting our afternoons. The rest of us did as we were told and each picked up a sponge mop. The girls and I decided to split up and picked different spots around the pool to clean.

I hopped in the empty pool and picked a corner to brush off the specks of dirt. Since I was cleaning alone, I made use of it and hummed some tunes quietly to keep myself entertained. After a couple minutes of cleaning, I heard footsteps approaching me. I turned to see that it was Fuyuki.

"Oh! H-Hello Sai!" He greeted me with a flush of pink on his face.

I stopped cleaning and greeted him back with a smile. "Hey Fuyuki. What's up?" I eyed him and noticed that he had his camera in hand.

"Well, I'm just roaming around taking pictures of the students cleaning. You mind if take a picture of you?" He asked.

"Eh? You want to take a picture of me?" I questioned.

"Yeah!" He perked up with excitement. "I think taking pictures of any activity or event we participate in will be awesome for our school yearbook."

My smile grew wider. "I see. Sounds like a great idea! Of course you have my permission for a picture."

Fuyuki seemed happy to hear that from me as his face grew another shade of red. "Awesome! Do me a favor and hold the sponge mop close to you. Now pose!" He said as he put the camera towards his face.

I was holding onto the hilt of the mop with one hand while I used my other hand and made a 'peace' sign. "Like this?" I asked, flashing a smile for my pose. After a few seconds, I heard some snaps and clicks from Fuyuki's camera.

"Perfect! Thanks Sai!" He said as he pulled his face away from the camera.

"No problem. Let's get back to cleaning okay?" I said, proceeding my cleaning duty.

"O-Okay!" Fuyuki said as he walked away.

I spent the next couple minutes cleaning my corner of the pool until it was spotless. I wiped off some sweat from my forehead and then climbed back onto the surface. I walked over to the buckets to pick up a new bar of soap. As I reached in, my hand came into contact with another hand.

Once I saw whose hand I came into contact with, I immediately blushed. There, standing near me was Harima. We both made eye contact and I shyly looked away.

"Oh..Uh..Hey there..." Harima spoke, breaking the awkward tension.

"H-Hi Harima..." I said quietly.

My face was still flushed and I could feel my heart jumping. Harima was rubbing the back of his neck, probably thinking about whether or not to bring up the incident.

"So...about the other day..." He said, bringing up the courage to speak up.

I jumped slightly and then flailed my hands in front of him. "D-Don't worry about that!" I panicked. "Ms. Itoko mentioned that you were being delusional...you know, from the bump you had." I was giving him a sheepish grin. Face still flushed and heart pounding rapidly. I can also feel my palms getting all sweaty from the tight grip I had on my broom.

Harima looked at the ground, still rubbing the back of his neck. "Right...I was being delusional...I'm sorry if I freaked you out."

 _Should I ask him if he really meant it? Would that be me asking too much? Who knows, maybe he really was being delusional or maybe his confession was meant for someone else..._

"It's no problem Harima." I said, giving him a reassuring smile. "I'm not freaked out one bit. We're still friends you know. I'm just really glad to see you back in school."

I don't know if my eyes were playing tricks on me, but I could've sworn I saw the corner of his lips curled into a smirk but then changed back to his cool expression.

"Thanks for everything I guess. Now if you excuse me..." Harima said as he reached for a new soap bar and walked away.

I let out a heavy sigh and placed a hand over my chest. My heart was still beating rapidly as I took deep breaths to relax.

 _Get a grip Sai! There is no way Harima would confess like that! He said it himself that he was being delusional! No point in having feelings for him. Let's just stay as friends with him. Nothing else..._ _Great...now I'm scolding myself. I feel like a crazy person for this._

I patted my cheeks and picked up a new bar of soap. I walked over to the other side of the pool and joined Eri, Mikoto and Akira who were grouped up. Up ahead, I noticed Tenma speaking with Yakumo by the pool entrance.

"Hm? Why is Yakumo here?" I questioned as I joined the gang.

"She came to check up on our cleaning duty." Eri said.

"Yup. Apparently, her class, 1-D, was originally the ones to clean the pool." Mikoto said.

"But Hanai insist on volunteering our class to clean." I opened my mouth to ask my next question but Akira immediately answered it, "That's because Hanai has a crush on little Miss Tsukamoto so he's doing this to impress her."

I shut my mouth and looked back at the Tsukamoto sisters. "Wow. So Yakumo's the one Hanai likes. How interesting."

"Yeah well because of his idiocy, we're stuck suffering." Eri said as she crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

Before any of us could say anything, Yoshidayama yelled out, catching everyone's attention. "Hey everyone! Look down there!" He was pointing at the middle of the empty pool. There, we could see Hanai and Harima standing face to face, glaring at each other.

There was a soap bar in between them and they started passing it around with their sponge brooms. Within a couple seconds, their little thing became a pool hockey game.

"What are they doing?" I questioned, staring at the two men hitting the soap bar back at each other.

"Don't know but this sure looks fun!" Mikoto said as she looked at the two with excitement.

Everyone from class stood there and observed the two rivals knocking the soap bars back and forth. Eventually, Hanai missed a hit and let the soap bar pass through his legs.

"Wow! Harima won!" Fuyuki shouted.

Students were whispering among each other while others cheered on Harima's supposed victory. Hanai looked at Harima and smirked. "Well, this was just a mere warm up. How about we put on a real match? I've been meaning to decide what to do for our school festival. We'll have two different teams. One can represent a School show while the other Sales Booth. Whose with me!?"

Mikoto was the first to jump in the pool and joined the two. "Count me in! But why host a game to decide for the school festival?"

"I figure this would help decide what Class 2-C should do. We either host a play or host a booth. Anyone else want to join?" Hanai asked, looking around.

"Me! I want to play!" Tenma yelled as she waved at Yakumo and jumped in. The next to join was Harima who spoke right after Tenma joined.

Eri's arms were still crossed as she eyed our friends in the pool. "Hm? Hige and Tenma are going to play huh?" She then uncrossed her arms and picked up her sponge mop. "I guess I'll join too!" She hopped into the pool and stood next to Mikoto.

I looked at Akira and she reached for her mop as well. "I'm playing." She said as she joined the others.

"How about you Miss Ishikawa?" Hanai asked as everyone else looked at me.

"I-I think I'll just sit and spectate." I said, giving them an apologetic smile.

Tenma pouted towards me. "Come on Sai. It'll be fun if you play."

I raised my hand and waved. "It's okay. I rather watch." I said with a grin. _It's best if I don't play. Wouldn't want to be too close to Harima..._ With that, I sat on the pool edge and let my legs dangle. All our other classmates stopped cleaning and gathered around to observe the mini game.

"Okay. Team Booth will be Harima, Tenma and Mikoto while Team Show will be Sawachika, Akira and I." Hanai said as they split off into their teams.

The soap bar was dropped in the middle and both teams started their match. They were all getting pretty competitive, preventing either team from getting the first point. _Are we really going through this to decide for the upcoming school festival? Can't we just have a class vote?_

"Hey there Sai." Suga appeared, greeting me.

I smiled at my friend. "Hey Suga." He kneel next to me and asked, "Mind if I sit next to you?"

"Go ahead. Free country." I responded, shrugging my shoulders. Suga then sat next to me and dangled his feet over the pool edge a well. "This is pretty fun to watch."

"I guess so. I still find it weird that Hanai is doing this to make a decision." I said, not taking my eyes off the two teams.

"Who cares." Suga said as he shrugged his shoulders. "By the way, have you placed your bets yet?"

I looked at him and cocked my head. "Huh? Bets?" I questioned.

"That's right Sai!" Fuyuki shouted as he appeared to my right. "We're currently placing bets on who we think would win."

Imadori walked up with his cellphone in hand. "I placed my bet on Miko's team."

"Count me in for Hanai's team." Nara said towards Fuyuki.

Yoshidayama and Nishimoto stepped in and spoke in unison. "We're betting on Eri."

I turned my attention back to Suga. "Who did you bet?" I asked him.

"I think Hanai will win." He said as he cheered for them. "Go Hanai!"

I placed a finger to my chin and pondered. "How interesting...I do like both ideas Hanai brought up." I then turned to look at Fuyuki. "If I were to decide, I guess I'd put my bet on Harima's team." I said, trying not to blush at the fact that I'm voting for the guy I like.

"Hey, if you're betting on Harima, then me too!" Aso said as he joined Suga and I on the pool edge.

Everyone else were placing their bets as we all continued to observe the game. Fuyuki picked up his camera and started taking pictures. "This is great! I'm getting some sweet shots of the girls!" He then turned towards me and took a picture of me, Suga and Aso. "I got some nice shots of you as well Sai!"

"Oh. That's cool." I said with a smile. _I guess I should take that as a compliment..._

* * *

Over fifteen minutes passed by and some points were given between the two teams. Some people eventually joined mid-game to ensure that their bets would pay off. I continued to sit at the pool edge and watch the game in awe.

"This game keeps getting interesting." I said to myself quietly.

I watched Mikoto and Hanai get into each other's faces as they tried their best not to let the soap bar pass by. Eri and Akira were showing some great teamwork in which I was amazed by it. As for Tenma, I noticed that she was too busy gawking at Karasuma, who was not paying attention to the game and kept cleaning. I couldn't help but to laugh at the silly girl.

I turned my attention towards Harima and couldn't help but to blush. From where I'm sitting, Harima looked very charming with his cool look. _I still can't believe I have developed feelings for this guy. I wonder how he'll react if I ever tell him my feelings...in which...I will NOT tell him. EVER. Or at least...not yet._

Letting out a heavy sigh, I looked away from the game and noticed Ichijou mopping around, paying absolutely no attention to the game as well. Just like Karasuma. I was interested to know why she's not watching the game, so I got up from my spot and approached her.

"Hey there Ichijou." I greeted her with a warm smile.

She was focused on her cleaning that she looked at me as soon as I spoke. "Oh. Hello Sai."

"You didn't wanna watch the game?" I asked, pointing at the match in the empty pool.

She held onto the mop and shook her head. "Not really. I rather focus on getting the pool clean. Does it look clean enough to you?"

She pointed around the pool side and I realized that it was actually clean. My jaw dropped at the fact that Ichijou finished up the cleaning while everyone else took a break. "Wow Ichijou. The pool is actually clean. Sorry if we slacked off." I said, giving her an apologetic smile.

"Oh. No need to apologize. I do enjoy cleaning." She said, giving me a reassuring smile. "Well, what should we do now?"

"We should turn on the water." Aso said as he approached the two of us.

"Turn on the water? But aren't they playing their little hockey game?" I asked, confused as to why Aso would suggest that.

"Nope. The game got interrupted. Just look down there." He answered, pointing behind him with his thumb.

Ichijou and I looked past him and noticed Fuyuki being chased around by Hanai and Harima. He seemed to be running for his life with his camera in hand.

I'm assuming Fuyuki's done something which caused the two to chase him. I could understand Hanai chasing Fuyuki but why is Harima chasing after him?

"I guess we can turn on the water now since they're done." Ichijou said. Aso and I nodded our heads and the three of us headed towards the water wheel. Aso grabbed the wheel and tried turning it but it wouldn't budge. "Man...this is tough to turn." Aso said.

"How about I give it a try?" I suggested as Aso moved aside and I gave it a whirl. I tried turning the wheel with all my might but it was still stuck.

"Maybe I can do it." Ichijou said shyly as she kneel next to me. "Go for it." I said, moving aside for her to give a try. Ichijou's slender hands grabbed the wheel and tried turning it. Within a second, Aso and I could see the wheel moving slowly and the sound of water coming into the pool.

"W-Woah! She did it." Aso said in amazement. My eyes were wide from seeing this. "You're pretty strong Ichijou." I said, feeling a sweat drop down my cheek from this.

"Help me!" I heard Fuyuki shout from behind. Aso and I turned around to see Fuyuki running towards our direction with Hanai and Harima still on his tail. "Sai! Help me!" He plead towards me.

The three of them were running at a really fast pace and they were getting too close to me. "W-Wait! Hold on!" I panicked, flailing my hands around.

 _I have Aso and Ichijou right next to me! If the three of them crash into us, we'd all become a human sandwich!_

"Watch out Sai!" Aso shouted a warning and he moved out the way to avoid getting crashed into.

With my quick reflexes, I grabbed Ichijou's arm and dragged her away with me. We managed to dodge the oncoming stampeded and watched as they run by us. Fuyuki kept running for dear life as Hanai and Harima shouted towards him.

"Get back here Fuyuki!" Hanai shouted.

"You better hand that camera over!" Harima yelled.

"Someone help me!" Fuyuki cried out.

They ran along the pool edge until Fuyuki slipped from a random soap bar on the ground. He began sliding down with Hanai and Harima crashing into him. This caused the three to lose balance and fall right into the pool where we just released clean water in.

After a couple seconds, Fuyuki, Hanai and Harima popped their heads out and we all watched the clean water become dirty from their clothes.

There were many unhappy faces around and Mikoto held her fist in the air. "You guys..." she started speaking, feeling agitated, " WE JUST CLEANED THE DAMN POOL!"

"What the heck guys!" Sagano yelled.

"We just cleaned it!" Mihara yelled.

The girls of Class 2-C began surrounding the three boys when they were getting off the pool.

"YOU WASTED OUR TIME YOU IDIOTS!" Eri screamed at them.

"WE'RE NOT CLEANING THIS MESS AGAIN!" Mai yelled.

Hanai, Harima and Fuyuki each looked at the girls with fear in their eyes. "W-Wait! I'm not a part of this!" Hanai said. Harima held his hands up in surrender. "I didn't do anything! It's all this guys fault!" He said, pointing at Fuyuki. Fuyuki held his camera close to him with fear still on his face. "I didn't do anything! It's not my fault!"

The girls then proceed to beat the guys up while Akira, Tenma and I stood there, watching the whole fiasco. The boys of Class 2-C stayed behind as well, avoiding the wrath from the girls.

"Well this didn't end well." I began speaking, cringing at the sight I was seeing. "Did we ever decide what we'd do for the festival?"

"Nope." Akira said, crossing her arms.

"Oh. What a waste." I said with a frown.

"I was hoping the Booth would win." Tenma moped.

I placed my hands on my hips and let out a sigh. "Well, I guess it'll be better to decide when the school festival gets closer." I said. I walked towards the pool shed and picked up some fresh towels.

As soon as the girls were done scolding, lecturing or beating up the guys, I walked up to them and handed each of them a towel.

"Thank you Miss Ishikawa." Hanai said, grabbing the towel from my hand.

"Thanks" Harima said.

"Thank you so much Sai." Fuyuki said but then looked at his camera. "Oh, I hope my camera isn't broken."

I let out a hearty laugh because their foolishness was entertaining. "I guess we can all go home now since we're finished."

Hanai dried himself with the towel and began looking around the area frantically. "Yakumo! Where's Miss Yakumo!?" He asked.

"Oh. She left a while ago Hanai." I answered him.

His facial expression changed to a look of disappointment and defeat. "What!? She didn't watch the game!?" He whined.

I shake my head and left the three. I then joined the girls back at the locker room as we changed back to our school uniforms.

"Those idiots." Mikoto said annoyed.

"Yeah. A complete waste of my time." Eri said. "Whatever. At least we're finally done with that."

Tenma flashed us with her bright smile. "I thought today was fun."

"I thought so too." Akira added.

"Well, I guess you're right Tenma." Mikoto said. "But it does suck that we weren't able to decide on our activity for the school festival."

I shrugged my shoulders and looked at her. "I'm sure we'll think of something when the date comes closer. Maybe it's too early to decide right now." I said.

"You're probably right. I hope Hanai brings up the subject when that day comes." Mikoto said.

Eri let out a sigh and wiped some sweat from her forehead. "I just want to go home and shower. I'm all hot and sweaty from that game."

"Same here." Akira said.

"Yeah. Let's go." Tenma said.

With that, the five of us finished changing and began walking home. _Today was a fun, productive, normal day._


	10. Lunch Offer

"Eh? Beef and Potatoes or Curry?" I questioned the pig-tailed blonde.

"Yeah. I'm asking which one you would prefer to eat." Eri said.

We were in the middle of lunch period and the girls and I had our tables circled as usual. Eri had came up with a choice of the two mentioned dishes.

"Well, I do know the ingredients needed for the Beef and Potatoes recipe." Mikoto said as she took a bite of her sandwich.

Suddenly, Eri whipped out a pen and notepad and turned to a clean page. "Please tell me the ingredients." She demanded.

Mikoto looked at her in confusion but reluctantly answered, "Well, if you're feeding for two, you'll probably need like a pound of potatoes and beef. Quarter pound of carrots, celery, onions and peas."

"I see." Eri said as she scribbled down her notes.

"Are you cooking for a guy?" Akira asked.

I nodded my head in agreement with Akira. "Yeah. Are you trying to learn a recipe to impress a guy?"

Eri's face changed color as she nervously answered our questions. "What? N-No! No! I-I was just curious for the recipes."

"Suure you do Eri." Tenma said sarcastically as she winked at the nerve-wrecking blonde. "You know, I can ask Yakumo for the her curry recipe since she makes it most of the time. Plus, I want to know the recipe myself."

"Why do you want to know the recipe for curry?" Mikoto asked.

Tenma's little pigtails perked up as she flashed her bright whites. "That's because Karasuma likes Curry!"

"You're planning to make him a boxed lunch tomorrow." Akira stated.

"Ah! H-How did you know Akira?" Tenma questioned, surprised from the calm red head.

"Looks a bit obvious to me." She answered as she sipped her juice.

Mikoto leaned back on her chair and raised her arms in the air. "Man! All this talk on food made me wish I packed something else instead of just a sandwich."

I laughed at Mikoto's comment and opened up my lunch box. "You're in luck Mikoto. Instead of my Dad making sushi, I made these sushi pieces for us." I moved the container and showed them the assorted pieces of fish.

"Wow! They look awesome!" Tenma shouted in excitement.

Mikoto did not hesitate to grab and piece and ate it. She looked as if her mouth was dancing in joy. "You seriously gotta take us to your family restaurant some day Sai."

"Yeah! All of the sushi you and your father make are delicious." Eri added as she popped a piece of tuna in her mouth.

I smiled towards the girls. "Don't worry ladies. I do plan on taking you guys out to the restaurant one day. But before I do that, we rather let my father settle in with the building contract and such along with us finding a new home to to move."

"Oh yeah. What's the status on the home hunting?" Tenma asked.

"Not well. Still haven't found a decent home close enough to the restaurant at a reasonable price." I pouted.

"They'll be an opportunity soon." Akira said.

"I hope so Akira." I said as I leaned back on my chair and looked around the classroom.

Upon my observation, I noticed that Harima and Karasuma were just sitting in their seats empty handed. Both of them didn't have any food in front of them. I raised an eyebrow at the sight of them.

"Something wrong Sai?" Mikoto asked, noticing my curious expression.

I looked back at the girls and they were each giving me the same curious look. "Well, I looked around the classroom and noticed that Harima and Karasuma don't have lunches."

Tenma's face lit up with hope. "This just gives me an even more reason to make lunch for Karasuma! Alright! I'm going to make him curry tomorrow!"

Just then, my face lit up with an idea. "Hey Tenma, why don't you grab a couple of sushi pieces and share them with Karasuma."

Tenma's cheeks flushed instantly as the idea. "W-What? S-Share food with him?" She squirmed in her seat, feeling shy suddenly.

"Yeah. That sounds like a good idea Sai." Eri said as she winked at Tenma.

"Do it Tenma." Akira said, encouraging the shy gal.

"I-I don't know if I can do it." Tenma said shyly.

Mikoto patted Tenma's back to reassure her. "Don't worry. You got this. We'll give you a push."

With that, I placed a couple pieces in an empty container and handed it to Tenma. Mikoto grabbed her and lightly pushed her towards Karasuma's direction. With that, the four of us watched as Tenma approached the quiet boy and offered him the food. We saw him nod his head and a smile formed on Tenam's childish face.

I let out a smile, happy that the little plan had worked out. "Now for Harima..." A mini flashback of the events at the hospital escaped through my mind. I could feel my cheeks getting hot and I nervously transferred a couple sushi pieces to another empty container to share with Harima.

"You planning on sharing food with Hige?" Eri questioned.

I nodded my head slightly.

"You're such a nice person Sai." Mikoto said, giving me a wink.

Akira eyed me and noticed the shade of red across my cheeks but didn't say anything about it. "Normally, no one would go near him."

"Even I wouldn't do anything like that to him." Eri added.

Mikoto scratched her head, trying to remember something else. "You know, she did share an umbrella with Harima the other week. Remember he gave her back the umbrella?"

"Oh!" Eri shouted in remembrance. "That's right. Sai, you're such a doll."

I could feel my face flushing once again. The girls were embarrassing me. "I-It's nothing. I-I just like being friendly with everyone. You ladies should know that by now."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Akira asked as she handed me the box of food. "Go." With that, she shoved me towards Harima's direction as I looked back at the red head. She held out her thumb and didn't say anything else.

With that, I turned back around and took a deep breath. I could feel my nerves kicking in and the butterflies in my stomach churn. My heart was beating rapidly as I stepped closer towards the delinquent. _It's okay Sai. Just stay calm. This is all just a friendly matter. Remember, the two of you are still friends and decided to let it go. That confession meant nothing. It meant nothing. NOTHING._

Harima was sitting in his seat, dazed as usual. "Uh...H-Harima..." He shook his head lightly and looked up at me. "Oh. Hey New Girl. What's up?"

I could feel my hands shaking a bit from nervousness. I took another deep breath to remain calm. "W-Well, I sorta...noticed that you didn't bring lunch." I then held out my container towards him. "I-I was wondering, if I c-can share my l-lunch with you. T-That way, you son't s-starve." My face flushed deep shades of red as I placed the boxed lunch in front of him.

Harima examined the contents and then looked back at me. "Sushi?"

"Y-Yeah. I made them. Try it out." I answered, hoping he'd accept it.

With a slight nod. Harima used his hand to pick up a piece. He popped one in his mouth and chewed. After he swallowed, his expression changed. "Wow. This is pretty good."

I let out a sigh of relief as my face flushed even more from the compliment. "T-Thanks." A smile formed on my face, happy to hear that Harima liked it. He continued eating until all the contents in the box was empty.

"Thanks a lot. Wish I had some money to buy food so that you wouldn't have to share yours." Harima said, feeling guilty.

I smiled and looked at him in reassurance. "Don't worry about it Harima. I'm glad to have shared my lunch with you. Honestly, I don't like seeing others starve." I picked up the empty container. "Uhm...Harima...you really don't have any money to buy lunch?"

Harima looked at me, blinked several times and then answered. "Yeah. I have no one to give me money."

 _No one? Does Harima live alone or something? That's really bad. How has he been surviving this whole time? I feel compelled to step in and help him. I should do something._

My heart skipped a beat at the thought of helping Harima. "Well...H-Harima..."

"Hm?" He glanced up at me once again.

Even though I still can't see his eyes through those shades, just knowing that he's staring at me is making me extra nervous. "If you don't mind, would it be okay if I bring you boxed lunches everyday? Since you don't have any money, I want to be there for you."

What I didn't notice was that the entire classroom was silent when I said my offer to Harima. I looked around and realized that all eyes were on the two of us. Within a matter of seconds, some of the boys ran up to me with fire in their eyes.

"You know Sai," Yoshidayama spoke, poking my arm with his elbow and winked. "You should make a charming guy like me some lunch also."

"Me too!" Nishimoto added, shoving Yoshidayama out of the way.

Fuyuki ran in front of Nishimoto and pointed at his camera. "Sai! I would love to take pictures of the food you prep! It'll be awesome for the yearbook! Just imagine, Cooking Babes!"

A hand was placed on Fuyuki's face and he was shoved with force and in came Imadori. "You should make my lunch the same size as your boobs!"

I stood there and stared blankly at the guys. I was shocked and surprised to see the guys react like this from my offer to Harima. _Why would they want me to make them lunches?_

"Hey." Harima said as he gave a look towards the boys. They all seemed scared and ran back to their seats. "Nevermind." They all said in unison.

I continued to stare at each of them in confusion but brought my focus back towards Harima. "Thanks for the offer New Girl, but it's fine. You don't need to do that for me."

"Oh..." I said, feeling slightly disappointed. I don't know why it made me feel sad. I guess a part of me really wanted to do this for Harima.

"I don't wanna be a burden to you. So don't worry about it. I'll find a way to manage." Harima said.

I tried to hide the frown that was starting to form on my face. _I wouldn't mind making him boxed lunches..._

"Well, can you just answer one question for me?"

Harima looked up and met my eyes with a questionable look. "What is it?"

"If you were to choose one, do you prefer to eat Beef and Potatoes or Curry?" I asked, feeling my heart pounding faster. It doesn't hurt to ask him the same question Eri asked earlier. There isn't an exact reason as to why I asked him this question, it's just out of sheer curiosity.

"Definitely curry." Harima responded without second guessing himself.

I blinked a couple times, amazed at his fast response but quickly flashed a smile towards him. "Okay. Thanks for the answer." With that, I clutched the empty lunch box and headed back to my seat and rejoined he girls. Tenma was back as well with a smile on her face.

"How did it go with Hige?" Eri was the first one to ask.

I set the container down and responded, "It went well. He really like the sushi."

"Well, judging by how all the other boys reacted, I bet you got some flirting done with him huh?" Mikoto said as she winked at me.

My face flushed a bit as I waved my hands around. "N-No! M-Mikoto!"

Mikoto leaned back and laughed in her seat. "Oh man. I'm just kidding Sai. Sure got your face red. It's gold."

I let out a heavy sigh and lowered my head in defeat. This girl sure does love to fool around and tease people.

"You know, since I'm going to make Karasuma boxed lunches, are you gonna do the same for Harima?" A cheerful Tenma asked with her usual bright smile.

"Uh...Well. I did offer it to him. But Harima rejected my offer." I said calmly.

Akira studied my face and opened her mouth, "He thinks it'll be a burden for you."

I looked at her and smirked. "You're too smart and observant Akira. But yes. He said how he doesn't want to be a burden to me."

"Too bad for Hige. He's missing out." Eri said as she closed her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Yeah." Mikoto agreed, placing her hands behind the back of her neck for support.

While sitting in my seat, I started thinking to myself. _Maybe it won't be bad if I still end up making him food. I really can't just sit here knowing that he's skipping out on meals because of money problems. Harima did say that he liked the sushi I made. Then again, he answered that question by saying curry. Should I make him sushi or curry?_

"Yo. Earth to Sai." Mikoto waved her hand in my face to catch my attention.

"Hm?" I blinked a couple times and stared at the blue haired girl.

"You dozed off silly." Tenma said.

"Have you decided to make him boxed lunches?" Akira asked, knowing her, she read my mind with her observation skills.

"Right again Akira." I answered, smiling towards her. "Observant as usual my friend."

Eri had a smirk on her face and opened her eyes to look at me. "Making food for Hige? Hun, you're way too nice."

"Yeah Sai!" Tenma said as she smiled and held up her thumbs. "You're a really nice person!"

"Hard to believe that you're probably still Harima's one and only friend." Mikoto said, looking at the delinquents direction. She then flashed a huge grin on her face. "Like I said the other week, Harima probably has a crush on Sai."

I couldn't help but to blush from her sudden teasing. "W-What?!"

She winked at me once more and continued her teasing. "Think about it. Harima usually won't let anyone get close to him. Sai just so happens to be the first person to somewhat be on Harima's good side. Who knows. Maybe he does like her."

"I need to see to believe." Eri chimed in. "Are you sure YOU don't have a crush on him Sai?"

All eyes were dead set on me and I sunk into my seat to hide. "Y-Yeah I'm sure!" _Semi-lie just like the other week at the cafe. I know I do feel something towards Harima but my feelings are still mixed around. Can't confirm how I truly feel._

"I still kinda wished you and Suga would get together. Too bad the two of you decided to stay as friends." Tenma said with a slight pout.

I let out a nervous laugh and eyed each girl. "You ladies...are crazy." I was shaking my head but then looked back at Eri. "Say, Eri."

"Huh?" She looked at me quizzically.

"Do you plan on buying ingredients today?" I asked her.

"Oh. Yeah. I plan on going to the supermarket after school." She answered.

"Mind if I tag along? I gotta pick up the newspaper and bags of rice for my Father."

Eri nodded her head and smiled. "Sure. It'll be great to have you tag along."

* * *

Once school was over, Eri and I waved to our friends and made our way to the supermarket. The two of us were making simple small talks until I brought up a question that the other girls and I were dying to know.

"Mind if I ask why you're trying to cook? Are you really trying to impress someone?" I looked at her with questionable eyes as we continued to walk down the semi-crowded streets.

A small shade of red came across her cheeks but she quickly cleared her throat to hide the embarrassment. "W-Well...I want to cook a special dinner for someone very dear to me." She lowered her head, speaking quietly. "Actually, this person is someone I barely see in my life. Today is one of those rare days where I actually get to see and spend time with him. I was hoping that maybe cooking him a meal would give him a warm surprise."

Listening to her answer, I couldn't help but to give her a warm smile. "That's very sweet of you Eri. I'm sure whoever this special someone is will surely appreciate your doing." I patted her on the shoulder to show her my support.

The two of us made it to the supermarket and entered through the automatic doors. Upon entering the market, Eri stood there, jaw dropped as she eyed the building in amazement. "Woah. It's huge here. There's so many things around this place!"

I chuckled at her comment. "Yeah. It's a supermarket. This is where people pick up the needed groceries and such."

Eri then had another shade of red across her face as she stuttered her next statement. "W-Well...Sai...to tell you the truth...I-I've never done grocery shopping before." She cupped her cheek to hide of embarrassing truth.

My eyes widened in shock. "Never? Really?" She nodded her head, still embarrassed. _I guess something like this would be a whole new world to her. Eri is a really rich person after all. She had butlers and personal chefs in her home. I guess that's why she wants to cook a personal meal for whoever her dear friend is._ "It's okay Eri. Grocery shopping is totally enjoyable. You get to pick all the different types of stuff you want."

A smile grew on Eri's face. Feeling excited to do her very first grocery shopping and I smiled back at her. "Let's go and get the things Mikoto mentioned earlier." She held out the notepad she'd written down earlier today.

"You decided to make Beef and Potatoes?" I asked.

"Yup. Will you help me pick the proper ingredients?"

"You betcha!" I shouted as I picked up two shopping baskets and handed one to Eri. "We'll pick up the vegetables first!"

I linked an arm with Eri's and dragged her to the aisle with the 'Produce' sign hanging from the ceiling. Eri gawked at all the colorful fruits and vegetables surrounding us. "T-This is cool. How do I know which ones are the necessary ingredients?"

"Simple, you look at the signs behind each fruit or vegetable counter. They label what each produce are. From the list Mikoto mentioned, you only need celery, carrots, onions and peas. Of course, don't forget the potatoes as well." I said, picking up a bag of potatoes and placing it in her basket. "It's really simple."

Eri eyed the bag of potatoes in her basket and then stared at the other vegetables around the aisle. "Yeah. I guess it's simple." She then walked over to the other colored veggies and picked up a nice stalk of celery. "This good?"

I nodded my head with a smile. "Perfect!"

We spent the next couple minutes picking up the vegetables and then headed over to the meat section. To smell of raw meat is common for people who are use to buying groceries. For someone like Eri, it's a new scent to them.

"Oh! This smell is disgusting." She said, pinching her nose to stop inhaling the godforsaken smell.

I couldn't help but to laugh. "It's something you'll need to get used to if you plan on cooking again."

Eri took a deep breath and moved her hand away. She tried taking in small breaths to avoid smelling the meat.

"Beef has many options to it. There's the fatty parts, steak, ribs, and many more. For this recipe, you'll probably need chucks since it'll be easier to simmer with the vegetables and stock." I walked over to the packaged meats and picked up a pound of it for Eri. "This is a good piece. It's meaty and fatty which will make it a bit juicier."

Her face lit up, Eri was learning a lot about the life of grocery shopping and it brought another smile to my face. "Thank you Sai. I really don't know what I'd do if I was here alone. I probably would've bought the entire market."

We both laughed at her comment as I walked her to the checkout station. There was a 'self-checkout' section and I showed her how to use it. Like usual, she was amazed as well and tried scanning the items herself. She had a lot of fun doing it and paid for the ingredients. Once she was done, she picked up the bag of groceries and checked her phone for the time.

"Oh my gosh!" She shouted. "It's already four thirty! I should head home."

"Eh? Already? I guess time sure flies by fast." I said jokingly as I held onto my empty shopping basket.

"Sorry I didn't get to accompany you in buying your items." Eri said with a frown.

"It's okay. I do have to pick up a lot of things so I'd rather help you first." I told her with a reassuring smile.

"Well, thank you very much for your help. I really appreciated it."

"No sweat. Glad I was able to help you out."

"I'll see you in school tomorrow. Bye Sai!" Eri waved and ran out of the supermarket while I waved back at her.

With that, I roamed around the market picking up the newspaper and other miscellaneous items my Father needed.

* * *

"Wow. This is heavy..." I said to myself quietly as I tried to pick up a bag of rice.

I had already completed the task of picking up all the other items and this bag of rice was the last thing on my mental list. Unfortunately, I didn't realize how heavy this particular bag was. I'm a pretty petite person so bringing this home would be somewhat of an obstacle. At least this supermarket isn't too far from my home.

"Alright. Let's try this again..."

I gripped onto the sides of the rice bag and lift with my legs. I finally managed to pick up the rice bag but I realized that my shopping basket was on the ground and I don't have a third arm to carry the basket. "Crap..." I moved the bag and held onto the handles with one hand while the other picked up the basket. With my hand gripping onto the handles of the rice bag, the weight of it was causing it to lose blood circulation on my fingers.

Before I had the chance to place the rice bag down, a hand brushed against mine and snatched the bag of rice from my aching hand.

"W-Who?" Shocked, I look to see who the helper was and it is none other than Harima. My face immediately flushed due to the fact that Harima is standing next to me and realizing that his hand brushed past mine. "H-Harima?"

"Hey." He greeted me nonchalantly. "Need any help?"

I felt my heart palpitating tremendously and my face was getting really heated. "Ah! Uh! S-Sure! T-Thank you Harima!" I bowed towards him to show him my gratitude.

He slung the rice bag over his shoulder and looked at me quizzically. "I noticed you were having a hard time carrying this. Why are you buying this if it's too heavy for you?"

"W-Well...My Father had asked me to pick up some things for him because he'll be busy too busy at the restaurant. I reluctantly accepted the request and I didn't realize how heavy the rice was until now." I said, giving Harima a sheepish grin.

"I see." Harima said, raising an eyebrow towards me. He must think I'm silly for not realizing this earlier.

"C-Can I ask why you're here Harima?" I shyly asked him. _Although I have no complaints. I'm kind of relieved to be bumping into Harima at the supermarket._

Other than carrying the bag of rice I picked up, he held out his shopping basket which was full of candy and junk food. "My cousin is making go on a snack run for her. So yeah. That's why I'm here."

I blinked at Harima in confusion. "Cousin? You live with your cousin?"

"Uh..yeah?" He answered with a question.

 _I guess that answers the questionable thoughts I had when I shared my lunch with Harima. He lives with his cousin. But why doesn't his cousin provide him money?_

"S-Sorry for the random question! It's just, I thought you lived alone or something since you mentioned that you don't have money to buy lunch." I said nervously, trying to get out of this awkward situation.

"Oh. Well, my cousin's apartment is the only thing she'll help me with. So I'm basically on my own from there. As for these snacks, she gave me her money to buy them and is expecting the exact change back." He said, pointing at the basket with his chin.

"I-I see."

"Is there anything else you need to pick up?" He asked.

I shook my head. "No. That was the last item. I'm ready to checkout. What about you? Do you need to pick up anything else for your cousin?"

"Nah. She has enough snacks in this basket." He started walking away while I followed. "Let's go pay for our stuff."

With that, Harima and I scanned our items and paid for the groceries. We both exited and stood outside of the supermarket.

"Thank you for the help Harima. I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow." I said while giving him a smile.

Harima didn't say anything, instead, he reached over and grabbed the bag of rice from my hands once again. "I'll walk you home."

My cheeks flushed and ears grew hot. "H-Huh?"

"Let me walk you home." Harima repeated himself.

It felt like my chest was going to burst and the tingly feeling in my stomach was overwhelming me. "U-Uh...Y-You really don't have too..."

He gripped tighter onto the handles and let out a sigh. "I insist. It's the least I can do to repay you for sharing your lunch with me. Plus, I wouldn't want you to strain yourself."

A smile grew on my face. _Harima is a really kind person._ "Okay then. Thank you again Harima."

"It's no problem." He said as he started walking ahead. I walked next to him with a smile still on my face.

* * *

Our walk was silent. It's not like those awkward silences, but it was a nice, peaceful silence. It felt really nice to have Harima walk me home again. It almost felt as if we were a couple walking home together.

 _Wait...What am I thinking!? Walking home together like a couple!? How did that come into my mind!?_

My face grew hot and I started gripping on my shopping bag tight. _Stop thinking Sai!_

"New Girl, you okay?" Harima asked.

He was staring at me with a confused expression. I guess it's because I had suddenly stopped walking and just stared off.

"Y-Yeah." I said as I moved my feet and the two of us walked along side again. "S-Sorry about that. I was thinking about something."

"Oh. Just be careful when you space out. It'll be bad if something happened to you if you're alone." Harima sound, sounding a bit concerned.

I couldn't help but to blush. _I never heard Harima sound worried before. This is something new. It makes me feel happy that Harima is concerned for me._

 _I wonder if what Mikoto said is right. Does Harima even like me? That confession back at the hospital, him telling me that he loves me, I wonder if it was a real confession. Did he really mean that? Or is it just as Ms. Itoko said, him being delusional._

 _What if he doesn't like me at all? What if this whole time, his confession and actions were meant to be for someone else? Am I crazy for theorizing this? Maybe Harima just thinks of me as a friend. I am the only one in class who is closest to him. Maybe I really am just a friend to him..._

"We're here." Harima said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I looked up to see that we reached the outside of my apartment. Harima set the bag of rice down on the ground and lightly massaged his neck. "Want me to bring this in your apartment?"

I jumped from his sudden offer and yelled, "No!"

"Hm?" Harima raised an eyebrow and looked at me in confusion.

I realized that I surprised him with my sudden freak out. "I-I mean...It's fine. I can bring this in myself." I said nervously as I picked up the handles and took a step back.

"Are you sure?" He questioned.

I forced a smile and nodded my head rapidly. "I-I'm sure!" I took another step back. "Y-You should head on home. I-Isn't your cousin waiting for your with her bag of snacks?"

Harima eyed me but then looked at his bag of snacks. "I guess your right. She'll kill me if I take too long."

I swung the rice bag over my shoulder and waved with a smile. "Thanks again for your help Harima. I really appreciate it."

He nodded his head. "It was nothing. See ya."

With that, he turned around and started walking away while I fumbled for my keys. I approached the main door and was going to turn the key until I heard my name be called.

"Sai."

I turned around to meet Harima's gaze, who was standing at a good distance from me. My heart skipped at the fact that Harima said my actual name instead of that nickname. "Y-Yes Harima?"

"Is it too late to change my mind about your offer?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

My eyes widened. "N-No! It's not too late."

"Good. Is it okay if I can get sushi again? I really like the ones you made. They were delicious."

My face flushed 50 shades of red. I let a wide grin form on my face as I responded to him. "Sure! You know, I planned on making you lunch regardless to surprise you."

I noticed a smirk on Harima's face. "I look forward to it." He then turned around and continued walking home.

With a grin still on my face, I opened the door and headed in. _Although I may have feelings for Harima, I'm extremely happy to be doing this for him._


	11. Confession Blues

For the next couple days, I've been making Harima boxed lunches and I couldn't have been happier. At first, it was a bit nerve-wrecking to give him his lunch but eventually, I got used to seeing his semi-smirk and his "Thanks New Girl" comment. I know that some of the guys in class were giving Harima and I weird looks but I didn't mind. As long as I continued to be friends with Harima, I don't let anything bother me. _Even though I do have mixed feelings for him._

"There goes Tenma with her extra boxed lunches again." Mikoto said as the four of us watched the love struck girl chase after Karasuma with her boxes.

"Can't blame the girl. She's in love." Eri said as she connected her table with mine and we made a huge square with our desks.

I opened my bag and took out my lunch along with the extra box. Instead of sushi, I made curry for Harima today. "I'll be right back ladies."

"Sushi again for him?" Akira asked.

I shook my head. "Nope. Curry today." I flashed a bright smile, feeling excited to see his reaction.

"Hige likes curry?" Eri questioned. I nodded my head and responded to her, "Yup. He mentioned that he likes curry so I decided to make it for him instead of the usual sushi."

"Look at you Sai. I swear, only you and Yakumo are the only girls I know who would make wonderful housewives." Mikoto said with a wink.

I couldn't help but to blush from Mikoto's statement. _A wonderful housewife huh? I always want someone special to appreciate my cooking._

"M-Mikoto, you're so silly." I said, looking at her. "It's early for me to start thinking about being a housewife."

"Yeah. Yeah. I just like to be a tease." She said as she waved her hand with a laugh.

Letting out a deep sigh, I got up from my seat with the extra lunch box in hand and walked over to Harima's desk. He was hunched over with his head laid on the desk. His face was facing the opposite direction. "Harima." I called out his name as I placed the lunch box on the empty space. He continued to lay there, not giving a response. "Harima?"

I placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him lightly. Just then, I heard a loud snore and quickly moved my hand away. Turns out he was sleeping through our classes as usual. Putting a hand over my mouth, I couldn't help but to giggle. _How cute._

"Harima. Wake up. It's lunch time." I said, shaking him lightly again.

A little bubble formed through his nose and popped which promptly woke him up along with my shaking. "Hm? What?" He sat up from his seat, still a dazed expression on his face and yawned. "Lunch already?"

I gave him a small smile and placed my hands behind my back. "Yeah. Eat up or else you're lunch will be cold and gooey to eat."

He raised an eyebrow and stared at me with his confused expression. "Cold and gooey?"

Harima opened the Tupperware cap to see white rice and curry, which was divided by mixed steamed vegetables in the middle. "You made curry?"

"Indeed I did. I just thought it'll be nice to eat something else for once instead of the usual sushi." I said, giving him another smile. "Are you okay with eating curry today?"

"I'm okay with it." He then picked up a spoon and took the first bite. After some bit of chewing, the corner of his lips curled. "It's really good New Girl. Curry is my favorite food. I really like your cooking."

My eyes widened slightly and my face flushed with heat. _He really appreciates my cooking...What does this mean?_ "T-Thank you Harima." I suddenly felt shy as I stood there and watched him eat another spoonful of curry.

"Thanks again New Girl." He said with his mouth full.

"You're welcome!" I responded as I headed back to my seat and noticed that the other girls were engaged in a deep conversation.

"...The Curry Shop sounds like a good idea to bring them to." Mikoto said, only being able to catch the last half of her sentence.

"Bring who to The Curry Shop?" I asked as I opened my Tupperware and started eating my share of curry.

"Akira had an awesome idea of hooking up Tenma and Karasuma." Eri said.

I looked at Akira and blinked curiously. "Oh? What made you want to do that Akira?"

"No reason. Just thought we should do something since Tenma won't make her next move." Akira answered nonchalantly.

"Yup. I'm all down for the idea." Mikoto said as she finished her sandwich.

"I say, how about we head outside and spy on the two. I'm curious to know what they do together everyday." Eri said with a mischievous look.

I looked at the blonde and raised an eyebrow at her. "Spying on them? Wouldn't that make us seem like we're being creepy or annoying to Tenma if we get caught?"

"Nah. We'll be fine. All we have to do is hide behind a good corner and watch them from there. Shouldn't be that hard since the school is big." Mikoto said as she stood from her seat.

Akira and Eri stood up as well while I finished up the rest of my curry lunch. "You coming Sai?" Akira asked. I picked up my napkin and wiped my mouth before answering. "Coming."

With that, the girls and I headed out of the classroom and made our way outside. We walked over to the back of the building where the water fountains usually are and there, we spotted Tenma and Karasuma sitting together with riceballs in hand.

"Riceballs again?" Mikoto questioned with a disappointing look. "That's like...Gah!...I don't know many times but it's always the same lunch for those two."

"Can't blame her. The poor girl admitted that she can't cook." Eri said.

"Can she really not cook anything else?" I asked.

"Tenma mentioned that she attempted at making curry for him but it ended up in a disaster." Akira said.

Mikoto, Eri and I let out a disappointing sigh. "How is Karasuma not sick of riceballs? He's been eating that every single day for lunch." Eri asked, wondering how he still has the stomach for the same meal.

"Sh! They'll hear us." Akira whispered as the four of us ran to a corner for cover.

Each one of us stuck our heads out continued to spy on the two. We noticed that all Tenma and Karasuma does is eat their riceball. Not a single word was spoken throughout the entire meal.

"This is boring." Mikoto said. "They're not even talking to each other. What kind of lunch date is that?"

"Well, let's get back to discussing Akira's plan." Eri said.

"What is it anyways?" I questioned, remembering that I only caught the last half of their conversation.

Akira fussed through her uniform pocket and took out a tiny flyer. "The Curry Shop has a half off pricing on their dishes. The plan is to ask Karasuma to hangout with us there. Then, as we all make our way, each one of us will come up with an excuse and leave those two hanging alone. We're setting them up for a date."

I clasped my hands and smiled. "That's an awesome plan. It'll be cute to see the two of them go on a curry date together."

"So it'll just be us five and Karasuma going?" Mikoto asked, counting the number of people with her fingers.

"No." Akira answered. "Fuyuki will be joining us as well."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Fuyuki? Why?" I questioned, not that I have a problem. I just found it random of Akira to mention him for this plan.

"Look behind us." She said as she pointing with her thumb.

I looked behind and I see Fuyuki laying on the ground with his camera up towards us. I'm assuming he followed us and tried to take pictures of us.

The moment all eyes were on him, Fuyuki jumped up and looked at me nervously. "Ah! Uh! H-Hi Sai." He greeted me shyly, cheeks flushed with a tint of pink.

I smiled at the photographer and snapped my fingers. "You should help us with our plan Fuyuki. It'll be great to have another guy join us."

"M-Me?" Fuyuki questioned. "Why me?"

"We just caught you trying to take perverted photos of us. You're now obligated to join us." Akira said as she glared at him.

"No point trying to get away with it." Eri added as she crossed her arms.

Fuyuki stood there, more nervous than ever and hid his camera behind his back.

"You helping us or not?" Mikoto asked, looking at the shy guy.

"I-I guess I don't have a choice..." Fuyuki spoke quietly. "What's the plan?"

Akira filled him all the information we discussed earlier as he nodded his head in agreement. "Alright. Count me in." He said.

"It's settled. We'll meet at the shoe cubicles after school. Fuyuki, you go ask Karasuma to join us while the girls and I will tell Tenma to come along." Mikoto said as she held a thumbs up.

While the girls and Fuyuki were talking, I decided to pop my head out to spy on the two. I noticed that they finished their meal and got ready to clean up and stood from their spots. "Hey guys..." I started speaking, interrupting their conversation. "I think Tenma and Karasuma are about to head back to the classroom."

Everyone else took a peek and realized the situation. "Oh crap! They're done eating! Run for it!" Mikoto shouted as each of us dashed back to the classroom.

Once we stepped through the classroom doors, we all sat back at our seats and act natural just as Tenma and Karasuma came in. "Oh! I almost forgot." I whispered to myself as I stood up and walked over towards Harima's seat. His seat was empty. _Must've done one of his disappearing acts after he finished eating._ I then smiled happily to myself. _I'm really glad he likes the curry._ I picked up the empty lunch box and went back to my seat to place the empty boxes in my bag.

"Hey Sai!" Tenma called out to me cheerfully.

"What's up Tenma?" I asked, looking at the happy girl.

"Are you coming along for some curry after school? Mikoto just told me about it and I'm excited to go." She said with a sparkle in her eye.

I nodded my head and giggled towards the love struck girl. "Yeah. I'm coming along."

With that, Ms. Osakabe came into the classroom and we spent the rest of the school day with our normal classes.

* * *

The last bell rang for the day and we were all packing our belongings, ready to meet the boys at the shoe cubicles downstairs. As I packed my books and utensils away, I looked at Harima's empty seat. _He never came back to class. I wonder where he went._

"Yo. Sai. You worrying about Harima?" Mikoto asked, elbowing me in the stomach lightly.

I jumped slightly from her touch and pouted at her. "M-Mikoto! Don't scare me like that."

She couldn't help but to laugh at whatever my facial expression was. "Sorry about that. But don't worry about Harima. He probably skipped out the rest of the school day and headed home or something."

"I guess you're right." I said quietly, still staring at the vacant seat.

"Come one. It's time to meet up with the others." She said as the two of us headed out of the classroom.

Mikoto and I got to our cubby and changed our shoes just in time for the others to arrive.

"Are we ready to go?" Eri asked impatiently.

"The boys aren't here yet." Akira said.

"Eh? Karasuma is not here yet?" Tenma looked around with a pout on her face. "I wonder if he changed his mind..."

"Well, what could be taking them so long?" Mikoto questioned, looking at the time.

I heard some footsteps behind the five of us and I turned around to see Fuyuki jogging towards us while Karasuma tailing him. "Sorry to keep you ladies waiting!" Fuyuki said, standing in front of me.

"What took the two of you so long?" I asked curiously.

Karasuma wiped down his shirt with his wet hand. "Bathroom."

"Well now that we're all here. Let's get going!" Mikoto shouted in excitement as we all exit the school property.

Tenma and Karasuma were walking next to each other while the rest of us tailed behind, watching the two. I couldn't help but to smile from seeing the two walking along side one another. _They do seem like a cute couple if they end up together._

"Oh man. I wish I could take pictures. I ran out of film." Fuyuki whispered to himself in disappointment.

"No pictures. It's time to put our plan into action." Mikoto whispered. "In about a minute, we'll all come up with an excuse and leave the scene. We'll regroup once the coast is clear." Fuyuki, Eri, Akira and I nodded our heads and started our plan.

"Oh no!" Eri was the first to talk. "I forgot I'm a diet! Sorry guys. Can't join you for curry!" She turned a corner and ran off.

"Eri!" Tenma yelled out to her but Eri was long gone.

"Right. I forgot." Akira was the next to speak. Tenma turned her head towards the tomboy and gave her a questionable look. "Sorry. I forgot I have a meeting with Ms. Itoko about the Tea Club." She ran off through the same corner Eri went through.

"Speaking to forgetting. I completely forgot that I'm supposed to be at the dojo with Hanai about our upcoming martial arts tournament." Mikoto said

Tenma pouted as she stared at her blue haired friend. "You too Mikoto?"

"Yeah. Sorry guys. I'll see you all tomorrow!" Mikoto shouted as she ran off into the corner as well.

Fuyuki and I looked at each other and then stared at the 'couple'. Tenma's face was fully of confusion. She then looked at Karasuma and he shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess it'll just be the four of us now." Tenma said as her and Karasuma continued walking.

After a few minutes of walking into the busy streets, along with our friends following behind, Fuyuki started his act by dropping his bag on the ground and crouched over with his arms over his stomach. "Ah! Ow!"

"Fuyuki! What's wrong!?" A concerned Tenma asked as we turned our attention towards him.

"My stomach." Fuyuki spoke, trying to sound pained. "It really hurts all of a sudden."

"Don't worry Fuyuki." I kneel next to him and held my hand on his shoulder. We both looked at each other and winked without Tenma or Karasuma noticing. "I'll take you back to my place since it's nearby."

Fuyuki stood up and we both looked at the couple. "Sorry guys, we have to bail also. We'll see you tomorrow." I said, giving them an apologetic look.

"Eh? W-What!?" Tenma looked at us in disbelief and started freaking out.

With that, Fuyuki and I quickly ran around a corner where our other friends were hiding and regrouped with them. Eri gave us a thumbs up and a wink, happy that the plan worked out.

"That's settled, we managed to get them to get curry together." I said with a small smile.

"Nice work everyone." Mikoto said. "Let's see what happens next."

We each popped our heads out and watches as Tenma and Karasuma exchanged a few words. I see Karasuma nodding his head and Tenma letting out a small smile. After that, the both of them started walking away. Since the plan was a success, we all moved away from the corner and stood in a circle.

"Success." Mikoto said.

"What should we do now?" Eri asked.

"How about we go to the cafe and grab some coffee together?" Fuyuki suggested with a smile on his face.

"Only if you pay for us." Akira said, looking at the photographer.

Fuyuki then looked at Akira, surprised to hear her suggest that. "W-What? I pay?"

"Yeah! That doesn't sound like a bad idea." Eri said.

"I guess we can use it to make up for you trying to take perverted pictures of us." Mikoto added, giving Fuyuki a small threat.

I couldn't help but to laugh. Then, I held my hand up and gave them an apologetic smile. "You guys go ahead without me. I'll meet you guys there."

"Eh? Why Sai?" Fuyuki asked.

"I gotta stop by the supermarket to pick up a newspaper for my Mom." I said. "See you at the cafe!"

I turned around and started running off towards the supermarket. Once I entered through the doors, I picked up the newspaper and paid for it. I flipped through the pages and looked for any house sale ads. "I wonder if we can find a nice home near Dad's restaurant."

My eyes were still glued to the newspaper as I exit the supermarket and walked down the busy city streets. Each home ad I skimmed through haven't caught my interest until I saw one particular ad. There was a two story home on sale which is located right between a good distance between Yagami High my Father's restaurant. Basically, this home would be in the middle which is easier for the both of us. "Oh man! I think this might be the one!" I shouted to myself in excitement.

I folded the newspaper to bookmark the specific page and stashed it in my backpack. With that, I started walking faster through the streets so that I can meetup with my friends at the cafe. As I turned a corner through an alleyway shortcut, I noticed that there was a man lying on the ground, unconscious.

"Oh no!" I quickly ran towards the unconscious man to check if he was okay. "A-Are you okay!?" I asked the man and took a closer look at him. My eyes widened in shock when I realized that this unconscious person is Harima. "H-Harima!?" I freaked out and reached out my hand for him to grab so that I could help him up. "C-Can you stand Harima!?"

I could hear a slight grumble from him and he raised his head from the ground. He was staring at me from there, not moving an inch or saying another word. All I could do is to continue to stand there and have my hand out. "Are you okay Harima?" I asked him again, this time speaking more gentle instead of freaking out.

Harima raised his hand and grabbed my wrist suddenly. He then pulled me in slightly and opened his mouth. "H-Hear me out!" He yelled. "I've...I've always loved you from the moment I first laid eyes on you!" He then lowered his head. "There...I've finally said it. I love you."

My eyes widened even more and I could feel my entire face getting all red and hot. The tingly feeling in my stomach is going haywire. My heart is beating non-stop and it's hard to control my breathing! _Did Harima just confess his love to me again? Is this even real? This is really happening? When he first confessed, I really just believed that he was being delusional like how Ms. Osakabe mentioned. Now...now...here's another confession coming from Harima. This time, he has no injury. There is no way he's being delusional again. He's really telling the truth this time._ _It was from this moment that I finally understood the mixed feelings I had._

 ** _I'm in love with Harima Kenji._**

Harima raised his head once again and took another look at me. His facial expression changed drastically and he now has a look of nervousness all over him. I continued to stand there and stare back at guy. My heart is still beating uncontrollably.

"Uh..." Was the only sound Harima could make.

I held my free hand over my chest and look away from Harima's gaze. "I...I..." Words couldn't form from my lips. _What should I do? No has ever confessed their feelings that strongly to me. Yet, Harima is seriously the first guy to do this. Are the two of us really meant to be? Is that why I've been so interested...no...attracted to him?_

"I..." I took a big, nervous gulp and made eye contact with Harima again. I could feel my face flushing even more. _It's time to confess my feelings as well. If Harima's brave enough to tell me his love, I should do the same._ "H-Harima...I...I want to say that I'm al-"

" _HA-RI-O!~"_

Suddenly, an older woman sneaked up behind Harima and wrapped her arms around him. This random stranger was fairly pale, blue eyes and long brownish hair that curls at the bottom.

"I've been looking all over for you Hario!~" She spoke again in a playful tone.

I noticed that Harima was sitting up right instead of laying down. He was even still holding onto my hand in which I moved away and held my hands behind my back. The two of us remained silent when this woman showed up. _Who is this woman anyways?_

"Thank goodness I found you Hario! For dinner tonight, we're going to have Beef and Potatoes! It's your favorite!" She spoke again and started poking his cheek.

 _Wait. Beef and Potatoes are his favorite? But...I thought curry was his favorite. Just what is going on? Who exactly is this woman? Is she the cousin Harima mentioned that he lives with? If so, she seems a bit too close and touchy to be his cousin._

I didn't realize that I was making an obvious frown in front of Harima and his companion. I don't know why, but I sort of feel upset now. Have I been lied to about his favorite meal the whole time? Harima really did seem like he loves curry. So why did she say that Beef and Potatoes were his favorite? I don't get it...

"Come on Hario. Let's go home!~" With that, the older woman linked her arm around Harima's and started dragging him away. Completely, ignoring my presence or unaware that I was standing there the entire time.

Still standing in the same spot, I watched the two walk away as Harima never left his gaze from me. Now I'm extremely upset. One, I didn't get my opportunity to reply to his confession. Two, that woman interrupted whatever this moment was. Three, Harima lied to me. Honestly, if Harima liked beef and potatoes, he should've just said that instead of curry. Why did he have to lie to me?

I clenched my fists and let out a heavy sigh. I'm not the type of person that gets angry or upset. _Maybe it was best that I didn't confess back. I should take this as an opportunity to get my feelings and emotions together. The only thing is, I really am in love with that delinquent._

"I guess I should head to the cafe and meetup with the others..." I spoke to myself quietly and turned around. The moment I did, I was met by Fuyuki, Mikoto, Eri and Akira with shocked and surprised expressions.

They each had their jaws dropped and eyes wide, except for Akira who stayed stoic as usual but I'm sure she's surprised as well.

"Oh. Uh. Hey guys..." I tried talking to them casually, as if what they probably witnessed was nothing.

Eri and Mikoto immediately ran opposite sides of me and each linked an arm through mine. Then, they lift me up and started dragging me away from the scene along with Fuyuki and Akira running behind. "Wh-What!? What's going on guys!?" I shouted at the four.

I was dragged through many corners until we came to a stop and the girls let go of me. They were all panting, catching their breaths as I continued to give each of them a questionable look.

"Sai!" Mikoto was the first to yell. "What the heck just happened between you and Harima!?"

"Uhm..." I tried speaking.

"We decided to come get you and ended up witnessing that with Hige!" Eri yelled.

"Uh..."

"Hm. That was very interesting to watch." Akira said.

"I..."

"Oh man! I can't believe it!" Fuyuki shouted. "I can't believe Harima's in love with Sai! This is just lose ALL chances I have to get her or else Harima will pummel me!"

My face flushed once again as I fiddled my fingers and looked at each of them nervously. "Y-You guys...I don't really know what happened exactly..."

Mikoto raised an eyebrow and looked at me. "What do you mean you 'don't know'? Harima literally confessed his undying love to you!"

"What exactly happened Sai?" Eri asked, curious to know what went down with this situation.

"Uhm...Well..." I was nervous to tell them the story. "It started after I bought the newspaper. I found Harima lying on the ground, unconscious. Being the nice person I am, I decided to help him up, but then he grabbed my hand and told me that he loves me from the start." I felt a blush forming across my cheeks when I thought about his confession again.

"You seem sad though." Akira said, pointing out the slight frown I was trying to hide.

"Eh? Why are you upset Sai?" Mikoto questioned.

I tightened my fist as I looked at my friend. "I-Its nothing. Just a stupid reason."

"Does it have to do with that older lady?" Eri asked.

I shamefully nodded my head. "That, and something else..." I let out another sigh. "He told me he likes curry but according to that older woman, Harima's favorite food is actually beef and potatoes. I know it's silly, but it upsets me that he lied to me."

"What!? That idiot!" Mikoto yelled as she raised her fist in the air.

Eri flipped her hair and looked at me. "Hun, there's nothing to worry about. That Hige is always an idiot."

"Do you like him?" Akira asked bluntly.

"E-Eh!? W-What!?" I looked at the red head.

"I know we've asked you a few times already. But judging from the situation now, do you like Harima back?" She asked again.

I shifted my eyes towards each person and felt my hands shaking. "M-Maybe..."

"You're lying." Akira said.

"Okay! I do like Harima back!" I said with all I got.

"My! Our precious friend and Hige. That's a couple I never imagined." Eri said as she cupped her cheek and imagined the two of us together.

"Well, that's it I guess. Are you going to tell him you like him back?" Mikoto asked, resting her hands behind the back of her neck.

"Probably not." I said quietly.

"Why's that?" Eri asked.

I shrugged my shoulders and looked at the blonde. "I don't know. I guess I want to think about it first." I then clapped my hand and bowed in front of my friends. "Please don't tell anyone about this! Not even Tenma!"

Mikoto placed a hand on my shoulder as I looked at her. "Don't worry Sai. Your secret is safe with me. We won't tell anyone. Right Fuyuki?" She emphasized Fuyuki's name in a threatening way.

The photographer was sulking the entire time but fixed his composure when Mikoto spoke his name. "Y-Yea! Your secret is safe with me Sai!" He saluted towards me but went back to his sulking. "Awh man. To know that Sai likes Harima is going to kill me. I sort wish I took a picture of that golden moment. It would've been a really special photo too."

"Knock it off you!" Mikoto said as she slapped the poor boy.

"How are you going to see him in school now?" Akira asked.

"I-I don't know." I said quietly. "I'm gonna go home. I don't feel like going to the cafe anymore."

They all nodded their head in understanding and with that, I ran home. Once I entered the apartment, I took out the newspaper from my bag and placed it on the dining table. I had the page laid out so that my parents can see it once they get home from work. I went straight to my room and plopped on my bed.

I buried my face in my pillow as I kept replaying the hospital incident and today's event in my head. _What does this all mean? Why is this happening to me? What do I say to Harima now?_

 _Akira's right though. How am I going to face Harima in school? Is everything between the two of us going to be extremely awkward now? Should I even bother to continue making him boxed lunches? If I don't, will Harima think I'm mad at him or something?_

 _I'm not mad. Just slightly upset. Should I just pretend like all of this never happened? Maybe I should confront him about who that older woman really is as well as the beef and potatoes._

This is all crazy. I can't believe I'm actually in love with Harima.


End file.
